NewzIntel.com

Category: Weather

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Canada strengthens protection of freshwater with launch of standalone Canada Water Agency

    Source: Government of Canada News

    News release

    October 16, 2024 – Winnipeg, Manitoba

    Fresh water is our most precious natural resource, needed for drinking, cleaning and sanitation, recreation, industry, agriculture, and ecosystem health. Water is also sacred to many Indigenous peoples and honoured as a giver of life. Yet, fresh water in Canada is under increasing pressure from climate change, pollution, and other threats. Canadians recognize the importance of fresh water and have called for action.

    Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, officially announced the establishment of the Canada Water Agency as a standalone federal entity headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Previously within Environment and Climate Change Canada for an interim period, the new independent Agency will strengthen freshwater management in Canada by providing leadership and improved coordination and collaboration federally and with provinces, territories, and Indigenous peoples. As a standalone entity, the Canada Water Agency will work closely with partners to deliver major elements of the Freshwater Action Plan, build a strong approach to freshwater protection, and help address transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.

    The Agency also will provide freshwater policy expertise and lead the development of a national freshwater data strategy, which will make it easier for Canadians to make informed decisions impacting their environment, economy, health, and safety. It will also work closely with Environment and Climate Change Canada and other federal departments and agencies to support and leverage freshwater science.

    The Canada Water Agency will administer freshwater funding programs in eight waterbodies of national significance: the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, Lake Simcoe, the St. Lawrence River, the Mackenzie River, the Fraser River, and the Wolastoq/Saint John River. Over the coming years, the Canada Water Agency will provide grants and contributions to hundreds of projects supporting the restoration and protection of fresh water in Canada funded by the historic $650 million investment outlined in Budget 2023.

    The Agency will be based in Winnipeg, a historical gathering place for Indigenous peoples and home to Lake Winnipeg—one of the world’s largest freshwater lakes and a priority Canada Water Agency waterbody. The Agency will also have five regional offices across Canada to ensure responsiveness to local freshwater issues. It is clear that the creation of the Canada Water Agency as a standalone marks an important step for Canada in protecting and restoring freshwater resources. Through its efforts, the Agency will help safeguard freshwater for generations of Canadians, which in turn improves upon the environment, economy, health, and safety of Canada.

    Quotes

    “Canadians value fresh water and understand its importance for health, prosperity, and cultural practices. Given pollution, land-use, and other stressors, we must take action now to safeguard fresh water. The creation of the Canada Water Agency is a key step in strengthening freshwater management, protection, and stewardship in Canada.”

    – The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

    “Tackling today’s freshwater challenges will require strong collaboration among governments, Indigenous partners, non-government organizations, academia, industry, and others. The Canada Water Agency will provide the leadership to foster the partnerships that we need to protect fresh water. I think that it is fitting that Winnipeg, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers which flow into Lake Winnipeg, is home to this important federal agency.”

    – Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Special Advisor for Water

    “Manitoba is so proud to be the home of the new Canada Water Agency. With over 100,000 lakes, Manitobans value our fresh water and care deeply about the health of our waterways. Our government is proud to have recently established Manitoba’s first-ever formal Nutrient Targets Regulation for Lake Winnipeg and its tributaries to reduce nutrient loading and restore the health of this important lake. We look forward to the increased opportunities for collaboration that will come from having the Canada Water Agency here in Manitoba, and our government is pleased to work together with the federal government, Indigenous communities, other freshwater experts, and all stakeholders to ensure the health of our waterways for generations to come.”

    – The Honourable Tracy Schmidt, Manitoba Minister of Environment and Climate Change

    Quick facts

    • In Budget 2023, the Government of Canada provided $650 million over ten years for the Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives, as well as $85.1 million over five years (and $21 million ongoing thereafter), for the creation of the Canada Water Agency. It also committed to introducing legislation to fully establish the Agency as a standalone entity.

    • Working with Indigenous peoples to seek their perspectives and support their participation is a central part of the mandate of the Canada Water Agency.

    • The Canada Water Agency was first established as a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada in June 2023.

    • On June 20, 2024, Bill C-59 (which included the Canada Water Agency Act), received Royal Assent, paving the way for the creation of the standalone Canada Water Agency.

    Related products

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Hermine Landry
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
    873-455-3714
    Hermine.Landry@ec.gc.ca

    Media Relations
    Environment and Climate Change Canada
    819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free)
    media@ec.gc.ca

    Canada Water Agency’s X (Twitter) page

    Canada Water Agency’s LinkedIn page

    Environment and Natural Resources in Canada Facebook page

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Standalone Canada Water Agency launches

    Source: Government of Canada News

    The Canada Water Agency is a Government of Canada agency under the Minister of Environment and Climate Change portfolio.

    The Canada Water Agency is a Government of Canada agency under the Minister of Environment and Climate Change portfolio. Its mandate is to improve freshwater management in Canada by providing leadership, effective collaboration federally, and improved coordination and collaboration with provinces, territories, and Indigenous peoples to address transboundary freshwater challenges and opportunities.

    The Canada Water Agency (the Agency) is headquartered in Winnipeg and has five regional offices across Canada to ensure responsiveness to regional freshwater issues. Once fully staffed, the Agency will have approximately 220 employees nationwide.

    Creation of the Canada Water Agency

    In 2019, the Prime Minister directed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to “Create a new Canada Water Agency to work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists, and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean, and well-managed.” Over the following three years, Environment and Climate Change Canada engaged with partners and stakeholders to shape the mandate, activities, and structure of the Agency.

    In Budget 2023, the Government of Canada announced funding for the Canada Water Agency and committed to introducing legislation to make the Agency a standalone entity reporting directly to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Soon thereafter, in June 2023, the Canada Water Agency launched as a branch within Environment and Climate Change Canada, delivering key elements of the Freshwater Action Plan and advancing efforts to establish the standalone entity. Starting in 2024, the Canada Water Agency has committed to providing more than $90 million in grants and contributions to 175 different projects across the country to strengthen freshwater management in Canada. Lastly, several other key accomplishments of the past year have included launching pre-engagement with First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and provincial and territorial governments on the review of the Canada Water Act, convening partners from across Canada to support development of a National Freshwater Data Strategy, and supporting partners to advance protection in several freshwater ecosystems across Canada.

    Later in 2023, the legislation to create the standalone Canada Water Agency (the Canada Water Agency Act) was introduced in Parliament as part of Bill C-59. The legislation received Royal Assent on June 20, 2024, and came into force on October 15, 2024.

    The Canada Water Agency’s current initiatives

    Freshwater ecosystem initiatives

    The Canada Water Agency leads the delivery of Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives in eight waterbodies of national significance across Canada: the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, the St. Lawrence River, the Wolastoq/Saint John River, the Fraser River, the Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe.  

    The goals of the Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives are to:

    • take action to restore and protect water quality and aquatic ecosystem health
    • advance science, monitoring (including community-based monitoring) and the application of Indigenous knowledge in cooperation with Indigenous peoples to support decision-making and effective action 
    • enhance governance to improve collaboration with Indigenous partners, provinces and territories, and stakeholders 
    • mobilize knowledge and reporting to measure progress towards results 
    • improve climate change resiliency through on the-ground-action

    Review of the Canada Water Act

    Proclaimed in 1970, the Canada Water Act is federal legislation administered by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. It provides a legal framework for cooperation among federal, provincial, and territorial governments in the conservation, development, and use of water resources.

    In his 2021 mandate letter, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change was directed to advance the modernization of the Canada Water Act to reflect Canada’s freshwater reality, including climate change and Indigenous rights. This commitment was reaffirmed in the 2023–2028 Action Plan for implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

    As an initial step, the Canada Water Agency led pre-engagement with partners to understand how they would like to be involved in the review of the Canada Water Act. The Canada Water Agency will use this information to develop engagement plans for the subsequent engagement phase, which is expected to begin in 2025.

    National freshwater data strategy

    The Canada Water Agency is developing a National Freshwater Data Strategy with partners and stakeholders. The Strategy will establish guidelines and principles for how freshwater information should be organized, stored, and shared in Canada. The Canada Water Agency published a discussion paper on the creation of a National Freshwater Data Strategy on July 26, 2024, and accepted comments until September 15, 2024. It also hosted a workshop on September 25–26, 2024, to develop an outline and path forward for the Strategy.

    Once implemented, the Strategy will make it easier for Canadians to find and access freshwater data and use and combine data from various sources. This, in turn, will support more informed decision-making and will help keep fresh water safe, clean, and well-managed.

    The Strategy will build on existing data systems, data science, and analytics expertise. It will also align with broader federal data efforts, including the Government of Canada’s Digital Ambition and the 2023–2026 Data Strategy for the Federal Public Service.

    Supporting freshwater science

    Freshwater science is critical to freshwater management and protection.

    For these reasons, Canada’s strengthened Freshwater Action Plan includes significant funding to support freshwater science. Environment and Climate Change Canada will continue to lead on freshwater science, including the National Freshwater Science Agenda, as well as freshwater monitoring. The Canada Water Agency will support and leverage science efforts to inform the Freshwater Ecosystems Initiatives and promote coordination among government and non-government freshwater science partners.

    Partnering with Indigenous peoples

    • The Canada Water Agency Act underscores the centrality of respectful and trusting partnerships with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit and strengthens their role in the development and implementation of the Canada Water Agency’s freshwater programs. The Act says that the Canada Water Agency will:
      • respect the rights of Indigenous people and support implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act
      • honour existing treaties and agreements
      • recognize Indigenous knowledge systems and data sovereignty
      • work to advance reconciliation

    As part of the pre-engagement phase of the Canada Water Act review, the Canada Water Agency spoke with and supported First Nations, Métis, and Inuit partners to facilitate effective, meaningful and relevant dialogues from the start. As part of the review, the Canada Water Agency piloted an Indigenous Grassroots Water Circle to create an accessible, safe, Indigenous-centered space to engage directly with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit grassroots individuals (for example, Elders, youth, women as water carriers, parents, academics, people with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQ+).

    Lastly, the Canada Water Agency is working to develop a deeper understanding of the various freshwater data interests of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to better inform the Canada Water Agency’s work while advancing the conversation to strengthen relationships; honour agreements; and respect Indigenous rights, interests, cultures, and Indigenous knowledge systems.   

    Collaboration with provinces, territories, partners and stakeholders

    The Government of Canada has more than 20 departments and agencies with freshwater-related responsibilities. The Canada Water Agency promotes coordination, collaboration, and information exchange among these entities. In addition, central to its mandate, the Canada Water Agency is committed to working with provinces, territories, and stakeholders to improve freshwater management, protection, and stewardship in Canada.

    The Canada Water Agency is collaborating closely with stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations and academia, to implement the Government of Canada’s freshwater agenda. The Canada Water Agency has also held information sessions with stakeholders in French and English to provide updates on the Canada Water Agency Act and continues to value their input and involvement in the review of the Act.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Video: North Carolina National Guard Soldiers go door to door to aid residents affected by Hurricane Helene

    Source: US National Guard (video statements)

    North Carolina National Guard Soldiers provide door to door aid in Haywood County, North Carolina on October 14, 2024, while supporting Hurricane Helene relief efforts. As of Oct. 16, more than 6,000 Guardsmen continue to support Hurricanes Helene and Milton response efforts. (U.S Army National Guard Video by Cpl. Nigel Hatcher)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq00dnL_5Kc

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration

    Source: US Department of Veterans Affairs

    Monica Rivera, thanks very much for that kind introduction.

    Katherine Martinez, it’s great to see you again. You are certainly a Veteran “worth knowing,” and I’m glad you could join us today. And thanks very much for your powerful remarks, especially about how VA can fit into Veterans lives, rather than Veterans trying to fit their lives into VA.

    Jaime Areizaga-Soto and our panel members—thank you for the great conversation this morning.

    And thank you, Nathan Maenle and team, for putting together the program today.

    I don’t have to look far to see Hispanic Americans making an impact at VA—serving Vets as well as they’ve served all of us.

    To close today’s program, I’d like to tell you about a few extraordinary VA teammates. One demonstrating leadership in a moment of crisis. Another, an example of a Veteran dedicating his life to serving other Vets. A third, a young cemetery director committed to honoring our fallen Vets and preserving their stories. And finally, an emerging leader dedicated to healing human suffering wherever he finds it.

    First, Fernando Rivera. Fernando’s the Executive Director of the Southeast Louisiana Health Care system and was born in Cuba. His mother was a government public relations professional. His father was a military officer. Both were disillusioned—to put it mildly—with the oppression of Castro’s communist regime, and secretly participated in the movement to overthrow the government. In 1961, Fernando’s father was imprisoned in Havana and paid the ultimate price for his efforts to ensure his family and country could live in freedom. He was executed.

    Fernando immigrated to the United States—New Orleans—in 1969 as a political refugee. He was nine years old. His mother worked three jobs to support him and his grandparents. As a young man he started at VA as a GS-5 Project Engineer—and advanced to roles including Medical Center Director, Network Director, and Acting Deputy Under Secretary. He’s been with VA for 39 years and counting. Along the way, in 1992, he met the love of his life—his wife Stacie—at VA. That’s part of the reason Fernando calls VA his family.

    Ten years ago, he went home—so to speak—when he helped bring VA healthcare back to New Orleans nearly a decade after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Fernando’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic set national standards, caring for over 1,600 infected patients, and coordinating responses across VA and private-sector healthcare systems. Just last month, Fernando’s steady leadership guided the Veterans, staff, and volunteers at VA when Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana. Fernando’s team responded quickly. They kept in close contact with the most vulnerable patients. When the storm had passed, Fernando had the medical center and 6 of 7 community-based outpatient clinics up and running within 24 hours and the final, most impacted clinic, up within 48 hours.

    Every day when Fernando goes to work, he reads a sign at the front of the hospital in New Orleans. It says, “The price of freedom can be seen within these walls.” Fernando says that he can never take for granted those who have served in uniform because they are the reason he and his family are free. Perhaps few can appreciate that freedom more profoundly than Fernando.

    Next, I’d like to talk about Francisco Vazquez. Francisco is the Medical Center Director at the Houston VA. His story of service starts with his beloved father, also named Francisco. His father grew up an orphan in Puerto Rico and saw the Army as a way out of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness he experienced. He joined the famous 65th Infantry Regiment shortly after his 18th birthday in 1951. Within a year, he found himself landing on the shores of Inchon, Korea. He stayed in the Army and Francisco, the younger, was born in Fort Chafee, Arkansas. When Francisco was eight, his father retired from the Army and moved the family back to Puerto Rico where he experienced firsthand the richness and warmth of the family-centered culture there.

    Francisco is very proud of his Puerto Rican heritage—where, as he says, “the island is beautiful … the food is amazing … and the people are welcoming, valiant, and determined.” After graduating from college, Francisco attended Navy Officer Candidate School, following his father in service to the nation. He served on the USS Okinawa for four years. His VA journey began in 1995 at the Central Texas Healthcare System. Since then, Francisco has served in seven VA hospitals. “We have the best mission in the world,” Francisco says. “We help our nation pay back part of the debt of gratitude we owe our Veterans for their service and sacrifice through the delivery of world-class care.”

    And for Francisco, it all goes back to the values his father modeled for him and his siblings during his Army career: honesty, hard work, humility, and putting the needs of others above your own. It was these values that inspired Francisco’s oldest son, Armando, to join the Army. And though Francisco’s father and son are no longer with us, their memory inspires and motivates him every single day to fulfill the second part of what President Biden calls our one truly sacred obligation as Americans, to prepare and equip the troops we send into harm’s way, and then care for them and their families when they come home. Three generations of Hispanic Americans who have put service and love of country at the forefront of their lives and are an example for us all.

    Next, I’d like to tell you about Marcos De Jesus. Marcos is the Director of the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, Florida. He was born in the Dominican Republic. When he was four, his mother—Maria—and he immigrated to Puerto Rico where he says he truly found his home. Marcos’ commitment to service started with the values taught by his mother—the belief that even if you don’t have much, you should still strive to give back to the world. By the time Marcos left for college it was only natural that he should join the ROTC program there, where the Air Force’s core value of “Service Before Self” resonated with him. Marcos served five years as an Air Force officer, deploying to Colombia and Abu Dhabi. He was impressed with the fact that in the Air Force he met people from all walks of life who were dedicated to one thing: serving their country.

    Like many Vets, when Marcos left the military, he searched for a similar sense of purpose and service. He found that purpose in the National Cemetery Administration in 2021.  His life came full circle when he returned to Puerto Rico for NCA’s Cemetery Director’s Development Program. Marcos takes pride in learning and sharing Veteran stories preserved in our National Cemeteries, especially through the Veterans Legacy Memorial site. Along the way, he met and married his wife, Barbara, from Caracas, Venezuela. Being a part of a Venezuelan family now, Marcos sees similarities in the values he witnessed growing up in Puerto Rico: courage, determination, and perseverance. Marcos jokes that he knows he and his wife will have debates about which heritage their children will claim. But they are certain of one thing—their children will inherit their shared values of hard work and service.

    Finally, I’d like to tell you about Dr. Alexander Tenorio. Alexander is a White House Fellow—one of America’s most prestigious programs for emerging leaders—serving with us here at VACO. Hispanic alumni of this program include the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Jaime Areizaga-Soto, our Chairman of the Board of Veterans Appeals, and Alberto Ramos, my Chief Speechwriter. Alexander and his family immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s, fleeing violence in their hometown. Alexander grew up poor in South Los Angeles, selling clothing on the streets to help his family make ends meet. It was on those streets that he saw drug use, gang violence, and the healthcare challenges the people in his community faced.

    So, he decided to go to medical school and become a neurosurgeon, one of the most under-represented specialties. During his residency in San Diego, Alexander came face-to-face with the horrific reality that is all too common along our southern border—individuals sustaining life changing wounds like Traumatic Brain Injury—T.B.I.—and spinal cord damage after falling from the 30-foot border wall—fleeing the same violence his parents did in the ‘80s. He’s dedicated his life to raising awareness of these tragic and preventable accidents, advocating for increased access to care for Hispanic and non-citizen populations. Alexander says that some of the most grateful patients he cared for as a resident in San Diego were our Vets. And that’s part of his motivation to serve his fellowship here at VA. His parents, who sacrificed so much to help him become a neurosurgeon, instilled in him the core value he lives by today: to help the helpless, and to heal human suffering wherever he finds it.

    So, why did I tell you about these extraordinary individuals this morning? Well, because frankly, these folks—Katherine, Francisco, Fernando, Marcos, and Alexander—know better than most what America is all about. And we need more leaders like them at VA. Because a diverse VA is a stronger VA. We all travel our unique journeys in life. Whether from Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, or Minnesota. And the convergence of those varied paths is what makes us stronger. We all cherish our freedoms as Americans. That’s why—you and I—are here to fight like hell for those who raise their hands to defend those freedoms. I thank you all for allowing me to join you this morning. God bless you all. And God bless our Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Matsinhe, Losophone Research Specialist/Adjunct Professor in African Studies, Carleton University

    The incoming president of Mozambique faces an array of interconnected problems deeply rooted in historical, socioeconomic and political dynamics. He must balance meeting immediate needs with long-term structural change.

    The 9 October 2024 general election was Mozambique’s seventh since multiparty elections were introduced in 1994. The results are expected to be announced within two weeks from the poll date. International media reports indicate that the ruling Frelimo and its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo are poised for a landslide victory.

    This is likely to be confirmed by the electoral commission even though local media have pointed to widespread and brazen ballot stuffing and fake observers, among other irregularities, in favour of Frelimo.

    Frelimo has been in power since independence in 1975.

    Can the resource-rich but impoverished nation of 35 million expect a redirection of policies and strategies under Chapo to address its multifaceted crises?

    Chapo (47) was born after independence and promises to act with integrity. But the old guard placed him in power to protect and promote their interests.

    Mozambique’s crises stem largely from systemic corruption under Frelimo. It has prioritised political elites over national welfare. Its decades of mismanagement, embezzlement and patronage have left institutions weak and unable to address pressing social and economic issues.

    The country is fragmented. The government has neglected the development of inclusive, accountable governance and equitable infrastructure. Regional disparities are the result. This is especially so in Cabo Delgado province, where disenfranchised citizens have become vulnerable to extremist groups.

    This lack of unity and long-term planning has created a fragile state unable to withstand mounting internal and external pressures.

    As a Mozambican social scientist and human rights specialist, I have spent my adult life wrestling with my country’s complex economic, social, cultural and political dynamics.



    Read more:
    9 million Mozambicans live below the poverty line – what’s wrong with the national budget and how to fix it

    Mozambique stands at a critical point. The new president must confront the deep-rooted challenges with determination and comprehensive reforms.

    In my view, the new leader faces nine key challenges. These are a deep economic crisis, an Islamic insurgency in the north, climate change, drug trafficking, unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure, kidnappings and unpaid public sector salaries.

    Economic crisis

    Mozambique’s economy has deteriorated, primarily because of structural imbalances and a dependence on extractive industries. GDP growth has declined sharply, from 7% in 2014 to 1.8% in 2023.

    Slower growth has resulted in over 62% of Mozambicans living in poverty.

    A public debt crisis was worsened by the “hidden debt scandal”: the discovery in 2016 of US$2 billion in previously undisclosed debts the government had guaranteed without the knowledge of parliament.

    This has limited the state’s capacity to invest in education, health and sanitation.

    Economic revival must be accompanied by targeted interventions to promote inclusive growth. All Mozambicans must benefit from economic activities to alleviate poverty.

    Insurgency

    Since 2017, extremist groups have used local grievances and regional disenfranchisement to destabilise northern Mozambique. Over 4,000 people have died. Nearly a million have been displaced.

    The conflict is rooted in socio-economic inequalities, made worse by the extraction of natural gas and rubies. Global and local actors compete for control.

    The new president’s role in mediating this crisis requires nuance. He must address the historical marginalisation of Cabo Delgado while balancing military and developmental responses.



    Read more:
    Between state and mosque: new book explores the turbulent history of Islamic politics in Mozambique

    He must also write a new chapter in the country’s deplorable human rights record. This is marked by widespread violations of the right to life, physical integrity, freedom from arbitrary detention, and freedoms of expression, assembly and the press.

    Climate change crisis

    Climate change intersects with Mozambique’s vulnerabilities. The country has been repeatedly struck by increasingly devastating severe cyclones, such as Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

    Deforestation has made it more fragile, reducing its capacity to mitigate flood and erosion risks.

    The new president will need to put in place policies that incorporate mitigation and adaptation strategies. He will also need to secure multilateral cooperation.

    Drug trafficking

    Drug trafficking networks have entrenched themselves. Porous borders, weak governance structures and endemic corruption have made Mozambique a corridor for heroin and cocaine trafficking.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that US$100 million worth of heroin passes through Mozambique annually. This fuels informal economies that sustain political patronage networks.

    Tackling the problem requires stronger state institutions. It also requires regional and global collaboration to disrupt the transnational flow of narcotics.

    Unemployment

    Joblessness stands at over 70%, affecting youth in particular. Youth disenfranchisement risks perpetuating cycles of poverty, social instability and potential radicalisation.

    Policies promoting vocational training and entrepreneurship are essential. So is investment in labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing.

    Corruption

    Pervasive corruption erodes public trust and stifles economic innovation. New efforts to combat corruption must go beyond superficial reforms. They must uproot the power structures that sustain these systems.

    Poor infrastructure

    Infrastructure is in disrepair. Urban roads are crumbling, public services are inadequate and electricity blackouts are frequent. Rural regions lack basic services such as clean water and healthcare.

    The next president will need to launch an ambitious infrastructure overhaul to improve living conditions and stimulate economic growth.

    Kidnappings

    Kidnappings, especially targeting the wealthy and business people, have created widespread fear and instability. The crime disrupts business operations and deters foreign investment, further harming economic growth.

    The high-profile nature of kidnappings suggests collusion between criminal networks and law enforcement as well as inefficiencies in the justice system.

    The persistence of kidnappings reflects broader governance issues. These include limited state capacity to respond effectively to organised crime.

    Unpaid public servants

    Delays in salary payments for public servants have worsened economic and social problems. The delays reduce public workers’ purchasing power. This has affected household consumption and local economies.

    Morale among employees is sapped, harming productivity and eroding trust in government institutions.



    Read more:
    Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition

    The new president must make public sector reforms. This includes auditing finances, improving revenue collection, enforcing fiscal discipline, promoting merit-based appointments, implementing probity laws, strengthening anti-corruption bodies, and diversifying the economy.

    The future of Mozambique rests on the ability of its next leader to address these profound and intertwined crises. It’s a huge task.

    Whoever it is will have to break from the Frelimo mould, reverse the damage done and set the country on a new path of clean governance, peace and inclusive economic growth.

    David Matsinhe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president – https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-2024-elections-9-major-challenges-that-will-face-the-next-president-240923

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By David Matsinhe, Losophone Research Specialist/Adjunct Professor in African Studies, Carleton University

    The incoming president of Mozambique faces an array of interconnected problems deeply rooted in historical, socioeconomic and political dynamics. He must balance meeting immediate needs with long-term structural change.

    The 9 October 2024 general election was Mozambique’s seventh since multiparty elections were introduced in 1994. The results are expected to be announced within two weeks from the poll date. International media reports indicate that the ruling Frelimo and its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo are poised for a landslide victory.

    This is likely to be confirmed by the electoral commission even though local media have pointed to widespread and brazen ballot stuffing and fake observers, among other irregularities, in favour of Frelimo.

    Frelimo has been in power since independence in 1975.

    Can the resource-rich but impoverished nation of 35 million expect a redirection of policies and strategies under Chapo to address its multifaceted crises?

    Chapo (47) was born after independence and promises to act with integrity. But the old guard placed him in power to protect and promote their interests.

    Mozambique’s crises stem largely from systemic corruption under Frelimo. It has prioritised political elites over national welfare. Its decades of mismanagement, embezzlement and patronage have left institutions weak and unable to address pressing social and economic issues.

    The country is fragmented. The government has neglected the development of inclusive, accountable governance and equitable infrastructure. Regional disparities are the result. This is especially so in Cabo Delgado province, where disenfranchised citizens have become vulnerable to extremist groups.

    This lack of unity and long-term planning has created a fragile state unable to withstand mounting internal and external pressures.

    As a Mozambican social scientist and human rights specialist, I have spent my adult life wrestling with my country’s complex economic, social, cultural and political dynamics.

    Read more: 9 million Mozambicans live below the poverty line – what’s wrong with the national budget and how to fix it

    Mozambique stands at a critical point. The new president must confront the deep-rooted challenges with determination and comprehensive reforms.

    In my view, the new leader faces nine key challenges. These are a deep economic crisis, an Islamic insurgency in the north, climate change, drug trafficking, unemployment, corruption, poor infrastructure, kidnappings and unpaid public sector salaries.

    Economic crisis

    Mozambique’s economy has deteriorated, primarily because of structural imbalances and a dependence on extractive industries. GDP growth has declined sharply, from 7% in 2014 to 1.8% in 2023.

    Slower growth has resulted in over 62% of Mozambicans living in poverty.

    A public debt crisis was worsened by the “hidden debt scandal”: the discovery in 2016 of US$2 billion in previously undisclosed debts the government had guaranteed without the knowledge of parliament.

    This has limited the state’s capacity to invest in education, health and sanitation.

    Economic revival must be accompanied by targeted interventions to promote inclusive growth. All Mozambicans must benefit from economic activities to alleviate poverty.

    Insurgency

    Since 2017, extremist groups have used local grievances and regional disenfranchisement to destabilise northern Mozambique. Over 4,000 people have died. Nearly a million have been displaced.

    The conflict is rooted in socio-economic inequalities, made worse by the extraction of natural gas and rubies. Global and local actors compete for control.

    The new president’s role in mediating this crisis requires nuance. He must address the historical marginalisation of Cabo Delgado while balancing military and developmental responses.

    Read more: Between state and mosque: new book explores the turbulent history of Islamic politics in Mozambique

    He must also write a new chapter in the country’s deplorable human rights record. This is marked by widespread violations of the right to life, physical integrity, freedom from arbitrary detention, and freedoms of expression, assembly and the press.

    Climate change crisis

    Climate change intersects with Mozambique’s vulnerabilities. The country has been repeatedly struck by increasingly devastating severe cyclones, such as Idai and Kenneth in 2019.

    Deforestation has made it more fragile, reducing its capacity to mitigate flood and erosion risks.

    The new president will need to put in place policies that incorporate mitigation and adaptation strategies. He will also need to secure multilateral cooperation.

    Drug trafficking

    Drug trafficking networks have entrenched themselves. Porous borders, weak governance structures and endemic corruption have made Mozambique a corridor for heroin and cocaine trafficking.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that US$100 million worth of heroin passes through Mozambique annually. This fuels informal economies that sustain political patronage networks.

    Tackling the problem requires stronger state institutions. It also requires regional and global collaboration to disrupt the transnational flow of narcotics.

    Unemployment

    Joblessness stands at over 70%, affecting youth in particular. Youth disenfranchisement risks perpetuating cycles of poverty, social instability and potential radicalisation.

    Policies promoting vocational training and entrepreneurship are essential. So is investment in labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing.

    Corruption

    Pervasive corruption erodes public trust and stifles economic innovation. New efforts to combat corruption must go beyond superficial reforms. They must uproot the power structures that sustain these systems.

    Poor infrastructure

    Infrastructure is in disrepair. Urban roads are crumbling, public services are inadequate and electricity blackouts are frequent. Rural regions lack basic services such as clean water and healthcare.

    The next president will need to launch an ambitious infrastructure overhaul to improve living conditions and stimulate economic growth.

    Kidnappings

    Kidnappings, especially targeting the wealthy and business people, have created widespread fear and instability. The crime disrupts business operations and deters foreign investment, further harming economic growth.

    The high-profile nature of kidnappings suggests collusion between criminal networks and law enforcement as well as inefficiencies in the justice system.

    The persistence of kidnappings reflects broader governance issues. These include limited state capacity to respond effectively to organised crime.

    Unpaid public servants

    Delays in salary payments for public servants have worsened economic and social problems. The delays reduce public workers’ purchasing power. This has affected household consumption and local economies.

    Morale among employees is sapped, harming productivity and eroding trust in government institutions.

    Read more: Mozambique’s transgender history is on display in a powerful photo exhibition

    The new president must make public sector reforms. This includes auditing finances, improving revenue collection, enforcing fiscal discipline, promoting merit-based appointments, implementing probity laws, strengthening anti-corruption bodies, and diversifying the economy.

    The future of Mozambique rests on the ability of its next leader to address these profound and intertwined crises. It’s a huge task.

    Whoever it is will have to break from the Frelimo mould, reverse the damage done and set the country on a new path of clean governance, peace and inclusive economic growth.

    – Mozambique’s 2024 elections: 9 major challenges that will face the next president
    – https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-2024-elections-9-major-challenges-that-will-face-the-next-president-240923

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Approves Nearly $2 Billion for Hurricane Response and Recovery  Efforts

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    The Biden-Harris Administration continues its response and recovery efforts across the Southeast and Appalachia following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Nearly 8,000 Federal personnel remain on the ground working side-by-side with State and local officials to help survivors with recovery and rebuilding.
    As part of our commitment to remaining with impacted communities as long as it takes, under President Biden’s direction, the Administration has already approved more than $1.8 billion in assistance for hurricane recovery efforts.
    This includes assistance for individuals – including funding for temporary housing, essential needs like food, water, baby formula, and other emergency supplies – as well as public assistance to states for costs related to debris removal, life-saving emergency protective measures, and restoring public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools, and courthouses.
    In North Carolina, where the Administration continues to surge resources, more than $100 million in assistance has been approved for more than 77,000 survivors.
    This funding supplements additional investments announced by President Biden during his visit to Florida this weekend, where he awarded more than $600 million from the Department of Energy to six projects across the Southeast to enhance the reliability and resilience of the electric grid in the face of more extreme weather events.
    Specific funding for impacted communities includes:
    For those affected by Hurricane Helene, FEMA has approved over $911 million, which includes $581 million in assistance for individuals and affected communities and over $330 million for public assistance costs like debris removal and other activities to save lives, protect public health and safety, prevent damage to public and private property, and restore public infrastructure.
    For individual assistance related to Hurricane Helene, specific funding approved includes:
    Florida: More than $213 million for 71,000 survivors
    South Carolina: More than $132 million for 146,000 survivors
    Georgia: More than $119 million for 118,000 survivors
    North Carolina: More than $100 million for 77,000 survivors
    Tennessee: More than $11.8 million for 2,400 survivors
    Virginia: More than $4.7 million for 1,500 survivors
    For those affected by Hurricane Milton, FEMA has already approved over $620 million, which thus far includes $16 million in assistance for individuals and affected communities and over $604 million in public assistance.  
    The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has offered over $48 million in tentatively approved disaster loan funding to survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The SBA also has hundreds of staff working on the ground supporting communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia in 48 disaster recovery centers, as well as in loan processing and customer service centers. 
    Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout impacted states:
    Additional Disaster Recovery Centers are opening throughout the affected communities to provide survivors with in-person assistance. These centers serve as “one stop shops,” offering help with applications for FEMA assistance, information on available resources from other Federal agencies, and guidance on navigating the recovery process. Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams remain on the ground in neighborhoods in all affected states helping survivors apply for assistance and connecting them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary resources.
    Survivors can visit Disaster Recovery Centers in the following cities/towns:
    Florida:
    Twelve Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Bradenton, Branford, Glen Saint Mary, Homosassa, Lake City, Largo, Live Oak, Madison, Perry, Sarasota, and Tampa, and more will open in the coming days and weeks. DRCs will support survivors impacted by both Helene and Milton. In addition, 120 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    North Carolina:
    Six Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Asheville, Bakersville, Boone, Lenoir, Marion and Sylva. FEMA expects to open up to ten more Disaster Recovery Centers in impacted communities in the coming days. More than 1,200 FEMA staff are on the ground, and 379 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    Georgia:
    Four Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Valdosta, Douglas, Sandersville and Augusta. 152 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    South Carolina:
    Six Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Anderson, Greenville, Barnwell, Batesburg, Easley, and North Augusta. 92 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    Tennessee:
    One Disaster Recovery Center is open in Erwin. 48 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    Virginia:
    Four Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Damascus, Dublin, Independence, and Tazewell. 57 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.
    Additional assistance to agriculture producers includes:
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that people in parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee recovering from Tropical Storm Helene may be eligible for food assistance through the USDA’s Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP). Approximately 982,930 households in Georgia, 152,572 households in North Carolina and 54,692 households in Tennessee are estimated to be eligible for this relief to help with grocery expenses. Through this program, which USDA makes available through states in the aftermath of disasters, people who may not be eligible for SNAP in normal circumstances can participate if they meet specific criteria, including disaster income limits and qualifying disaster-related expenses.
    USDA also announced additional assistance to help agriculture producers impacted by Hurricane Helene in the recovery process. Producers will receive over $233 million in indemnities for losses from Hurricane Helene. These payments will directly help farmers and rural communities recover.
    Currently, Hurricane Helene estimated indemnities by state include:
    Georgia: $207.7 million 
    Florida: $12.8 million
    Alabama: $5.0 million 
    North Carolina: $4.1 million 
    South Carolina: $4.1 million
    Virginia: $61,000

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Approves Nearly $2 Billion for Hurricane Response and Recovery  Efforts

    Source: The White House

    The Biden-Harris Administration continues its response and recovery efforts across the Southeast and Appalachia following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Nearly 8,000 Federal personnel remain on the ground working side-by-side with State and local officials to help survivors with recovery and rebuilding.

    As part of our commitment to remaining with impacted communities as long as it takes, under President Biden’s direction, the Administration has already approved more than $1.8 billion in assistance for hurricane recovery efforts.

    This includes assistance for individuals – including funding for temporary housing, essential needs like food, water, baby formula, and other emergency supplies – as well as public assistance to states for costs related to debris removal, life-saving emergency protective measures, and restoring public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools, and courthouses.

    In North Carolina, where the Administration continues to surge resources, more than $100 million in assistance has been approved for more than 77,000 survivors.

    This funding supplements additional investments announced by President Biden during his visit to Florida this weekend, where he awarded more than $600 million from the Department of Energy to six projects across the Southeast to enhance the reliability and resilience of the electric grid in the face of more extreme weather events.

    Specific funding for impacted communities includes:

    For those affected by Hurricane Helene, FEMA has approved over $911 million, which includes $581 million in assistance for individuals and affected communities and over $330 million for public assistance costs like debris removal and other activities to save lives, protect public health and safety, prevent damage to public and private property, and restore public infrastructure.

    For individual assistance related to Hurricane Helene, specific funding approved includes:

    • Florida: More than $213 million for 71,000 survivors
    • South Carolina: More than $132 million for 146,000 survivors
    • Georgia: More than $119 million for 118,000 survivors
    • North Carolina: More than $100 million for 77,000 survivors
    • Tennessee: More than $11.8 million for 2,400 survivors
    • Virginia: More than $4.7 million for 1,500 survivors

    For those affected by Hurricane Milton, FEMA has already approved over $620 million, which thus far includes $16 million in assistance for individuals and affected communities and over $604 million in public assistance.  

    The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has offered over $48 million in tentatively approved disaster loan funding to survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The SBA also has hundreds of staff working on the ground supporting communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia in 48 disaster recovery centers, as well as in loan processing and customer service centers. 

    Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout impacted states:

    Additional Disaster Recovery Centers are opening throughout the affected communities to provide survivors with in-person assistance. These centers serve as “one stop shops,” offering help with applications for FEMA assistance, information on available resources from other Federal agencies, and guidance on navigating the recovery process. Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams remain on the ground in neighborhoods in all affected states helping survivors apply for assistance and connecting them with additional state, local, federal and voluntary resources.

    Survivors can visit Disaster Recovery Centers in the following cities/towns:

    Florida:

    • Twelve Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Bradenton, Branford, Glen Saint Mary, Homosassa, Lake City, Largo, Live Oak, Madison, Perry, Sarasota, and Tampa, and more will open in the coming days and weeks. DRCs will support survivors impacted by both Helene and Milton. In addition, 120 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    North Carolina:

    • Six Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Asheville, Bakersville, Boone, Lenoir, Marion and Sylva. FEMA expects to open up to ten more Disaster Recovery Centers in impacted communities in the coming days. More than 1,200 FEMA staff are on the ground, and 379 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    Georgia:

    • Four Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Valdosta, Douglas, Sandersville and Augusta. 152 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    South Carolina:

    • Six Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Anderson, Greenville, Barnwell, Batesburg, Easley, and North Augusta. 92 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    Tennessee:

    • One Disaster Recovery Center is open in Erwin. 48 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    Virginia:

    • Four Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Damascus, Dublin, Independence, and Tazewell. 57 Disaster Survivor Assistance Team members are going into neighborhoods to connect with survivors.

    Additional assistance to agriculture producers includes:

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that people in parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee recovering from Tropical Storm Helene may be eligible for food assistance through the USDA’s Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP). Approximately 982,930 households in Georgia, 152,572 households in North Carolina and 54,692 households in Tennessee are estimated to be eligible for this relief to help with grocery expenses. Through this program, which USDA makes available through states in the aftermath of disasters, people who may not be eligible for SNAP in normal circumstances can participate if they meet specific criteria, including disaster income limits and qualifying disaster-related expenses.

    USDA also announced additional assistance to help agriculture producers impacted by Hurricane Helene in the recovery process. Producers will receive over $233 million in indemnities for losses from Hurricane Helene. These payments will directly help farmers and rural communities recover.

    Currently, Hurricane Helene estimated indemnities by state include:

    • Georgia: $207.7 million 
    • Florida: $12.8 million
    • Alabama: $5.0 million 
    • North Carolina: $4.1 million 
    • South Carolina: $4.1 million
    • Virginia: $61,000

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: National Drought Group discusses preparations for extreme weather

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Water resources are healthy following the wettest 12 months in England since 1836

    The changing climate means we will see more extreme weather in the coming years, the National Drought Group heard at its latest meeting today (16 October 2024), which was attended by Water Minister Emma Hardy.

    The Environment Agency chaired a routine meeting of the expert group today in which it was confirmed that water resources are currently healthy following the wettest 12 months (October 2023 to September 2024) on record in England. However, the Group discussed that flood and drought should be viewed as different sides of the same coin and England needs to be prepared for an increase of both in the coming years.

    Despite recent warnings about flood preparedness, the Environment Agency reiterated that droughts are likely to become more frequent and more severe in future, and we need to be ready for all rainfall scenarios. Extreme dry weather can come unexpectedly, as happened in the summer of 2022, and can impact our lives in various ways, including on agriculture. At the meeting, attendees heard about the challenges farmers and growers have experienced this year in managing the variable weather conditions. The importance of making the environment more resilient to the impacts of all weather extremes was also discussed.  

    It comes a week after the Environment Agency warned there were significant areas of under-delivery against water resource management plans, meaning improvements are needed in order to manage water supplies efficiently and sustainably.

    Chairing the meeting, Environment Agency Director of Water, Helen Wakeham said:

    Heavier rainfall and drier summers are the shape of things to come, and this will be an enormous challenge over the next few decades.  

    As well as preparing for floods, we must ensure we are resilient to drought, and we cannot be complacent even when water resources are healthy. 

    Water companies must deliver on their commitments to improve infrastructure and rollout smart water meters, but we can all take small steps to reduce demand such as installing a water butt to capture rain to water the garden.

    Water and Floods Minister Emma Hardy said:

    Population growth and climate change is putting tremendous pressure on our water system, and we all saw in 2022 how quickly drought can take hold.  

    We need to be prepared for all eventualities and the government is taking decisive action to improve the resilience of our precious water supplies.  

    This Government will secure investment to upgrade our crumbling water infrastructure, which in turn will help fix leaks and ensure water is used more efficiently.

    The National Drought Group – which includes the government, regulators, water companies, farmers, conservation experts and the Met Office   – heard about the current water resources situation:

    • The last 12 months has been the wettest October to September on record since 1836 for England. Some parts of the country received more than three times the average rainfall in September.

    • Reservoir storage across England was at 76% of total capacity at the end of September.

    • River flows in September were normal or higher at three-quarters of sites, with a third ‘exceptionally high’ for the time of year.

    • Groundwater levels usually continue to decline in September and, despite the wet weather, this is the case for the majority of sites. However, we are now seeing groundwater levels in early October rising in many aquifers in response to the exceptionally wet September. 

    Water resources

    By 2050, England will need to find an additional 5 billion litres of water a day to meet demand for public water supply. This is more than a third of the 14 billion litres of water currently put into the public water supply. To bridge the gap between supply and demand, proposed developments over the next three decades include nine new reservoirs. However, earlier this month the EA warned of under-delivery against these plans, noting that some water companies wouldn’t have had sufficient water supply to meet planned levels of resilience in the event of a drought last year.

    In the last six months, regulators – including the EA, Ofwat and Natural England – have been working with all water companies on their final 2025-2030 Water Resource Management Plans. National Drought Group members also heard that the EA will launch an eight-week public consultation in the coming weeks on how drought is managed in England, calling for public views on the document and input into its operational area drought plans.

    Further information

    The meeting follows recent measures announced by the government and the Environment Agency to drive improvements across the water sector.  

    • 100% of storm overflows are monitored which helps the Environment Agency to inspect water companies and ensure they are operating within their permits. 

    • The EA is implementing a fourfold increase in water company inspections to hold companies to account – 4000 will be carried out by the end of March 2025, and 10,000 in 2025/26. 

    • The EA is recruiting up to 500 additional staff and using more data-driven analytics to identify any non-compliance and take action.  

    • The EA is conducting its largest ever criminal investigation into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at thousands of sewage treatment works. Tough enforcement action has already led to over £151m in fines since 2015.   

    • In his first week, the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed announced a series of initial steps towards ending the crisis in the water sector.

    • After writing to Ofwat, the Secretary of State has secured agreement that funding for vital infrastructure investment is ringfenced and can only be spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment. Ofwat will also ensure that when money for investment is not spent, companies refund customers, with money never allowed to be diverted for bonuses, dividends or salary increases.

    • Water companies will place customers and the environment at the heart of their objectives. Companies have agreed to change their ‘Articles of Association’ – the rules governing each company – to make the interests of customers and the environment a primary objective.

    • There will be strengthened protection and compensation for households and businesses when their basic water services are affected. Subject to consultation, the amount of compensation customers are legally entitled to when key standards are not met will more than double. The payments will also be triggered by a wider set of circumstances including Boil Water Notices.

    • The Secretary of State has announced that the Government will be carrying out a review to fundamentally transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

    • The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to Parliament. It will:

      • Strengthen regulation to ensure water bosses face personal criminal liability for lawbreaking.
      • Give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met.
      • Boost accountability for water executives through fitness and proprietary tests.
      • Introduce new powers to bring automatic and severe fines.
      • Require water companies to install real-time monitors at every sewage outlet with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators.

    Updates to this page

    Published 16 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Federal Agencies Working Together in Multimillion-Dollar Mission to Remove Debris in Virginia

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: Federal Agencies Working Together in Multimillion-Dollar Mission to Remove Debris in Virginia

    Federal Agencies Working Together in Multimillion-Dollar Mission to Remove Debris in Virginia

    BRISTOL, Va.— Tropical Storm Helene devastated communities throughout southwestern Virginia. Since then, federal agencies have been working with Commonwealth and local partners to address communities’ needs and help individuals on their journey to recovery. At the request of the Commonwealth, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced a multimillion-dollar commitment dedicated to removal of debris in and around Claytor Lake State Park and the South Holston Lake Area, which were impacted by Tropical Storm Helene.

    Alongside rain, tornados, wind and flooding, Tropical Storm Helene left debris on land and in waterways. Lakes in Virginia are a source of drinking water, provide power through hydropower dams, serve as recreation sites for boating and fishing and support many species of wildlife. 

    A significant amount of debris, including woody debris, boats, propane and fuel tanks, and pieces of structures litter Claytor Lake State Park and the South Holston Lake Area, threatening critical functions of the parks and waterways. Boating, kayaking, swimming and fishing are not currently possible at Claytor Lake State Park because of debris in the water and on the park shoreline.

    Debris in Claytor Lake, Va., Oct. 9, 2024 Photo: FEMA. 

    Due to the extent of debris, the Commonwealth has requested support for debris removal. In support of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s request, as directed by and in coordination with FEMA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will be removing debris from public property in the South Holston area and on Claytor Lake to reduce threats to public health and safety. 

    This is the largest debris mission in Virginia since 2003 and will last for over three months. “This debris mission shows the full federal family’s commitment to Virginia communities,” said FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer Timothy Pheil. “Recovery cannot be achieved alone, with one program or one agency. I am grateful to the Commonwealth and to our federal partners for responding to the needs of the whole community.” 

    The Army Corps of Engineers will be taking on the multimillion-dollar mission, which includes waterway debris removal for Claytor Lake and South Holston River at South Fork. USACE crews began land and water debris assessment Oct. 4, and continue providing assistance to the Virginia debris task force. The USACE contractor will mobilize and begin removing debris next week. USACE estimates the work could take about 120 days to complete.   

    The waterway debris removal presents unique challenges for the USACE team. Crews will operate heavy equipment from land and afloat on barges to collect the debris, moving it to land for sorting and disposal. USACE debris specialists estimate up to 300 acres of debris in the two waterways. 

    “Debris removal on the water is inherently more complex,” said Col. Sonny Avichal, commander of USACE’s Norfolk District, “and our first priority is ensuring the safety of the public and our teams. We’re working together toward the same goal, so we also want to make sure we’re talking with the communities frequently to share information and listen to concerns.”

    EPA’s first responders have been at the site assisting federal and state agencies since Sept. 29, and received federal approval to begin oil and hazardous material cleanup on Oct. 6. The EPA’s mission in the debris removal efforts includes assessing and cleaning up hazardous material, white goods, and oil across the entire impacted area to ensure human health and the environment is protected. 

    “A person’s safety is always our top priority, especially following a natural disaster like Hurricane Helene,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “We are incredibly proud of our first responders who are working tirelessly along with our local, state and federal partners to remove hazardous materials and protect drinking water that our communities depend on. We are committed to ensuring affected families in the Commonwealth have the support and resources they need to move forward.”

    EPA crews lay yellow horizontal boom which acts as a barrier that protects access to boat ramps and also collects debris and makes it more effective for crews to retrieve hazardous waste containers. Photo: EPA.
    FEMA and local officials surveying debris in Claytor Lake. Photo: FEMA. 

    The debris mission does not include private property. If residents have household hazardous materials or oil containers that were damaged by the storm, they can be brought to 919 S. Shady Avenue in Damascus, Va. seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Find resources for residents and business owners, including tips for staying safe and information on agencies that can help here: 9 Ways to Stay Safe Cleaning Up Debris After a Disaster | FEMA.gov.

    For more information on Virginia’s disaster recovery, visit vaemergency.gov,  the Virginia Department of Emergency Management Facebook page , fema.gov/disaster/4831 and facebook.com/FEMA. 

    ###

    FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. FEMA Region 3’s jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Follow us on X at x.com/FEMAregion3 and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/femaregion3.

    To apply for FEMA assistance, please call the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362, visit https://www.disasterassistance.gov/, or download and apply on the FEMA App. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish and 3 for other languages). Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency, or economic status.

              

    erika.osullivan

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: The Announcement of Two Proposed Initiatives for Protecting the Waters of Eastern James Bay

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Quebec, October 16, 2024. – The Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Itschee) and Chairperson of the Cree Nation Government, Mandy Gull-Masty, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change and the Minister responsible for Parks Canada, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, and the Quebec Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks and Minister responsible for the Laurentides region, Benoit Charette, invite media representatives to a press conference where two important announcements will be shared regarding the waters of eastern James Bay.

    Date:  Friday, October 18th at 2:30 p.m.

     

    Location:  Quebec region

    Media representatives must confirm their presence by emailing relations.medias@environnement.gouv.qc.ca before 2 p.m. on October 18th. The exact location where the event will be held will only be confirmed to accredited journalists.

                                                                                                          -30-

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Wawanesa Accepting Applications for Community Wildfire Prevention Grants

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — To help Canadians safeguard their communities from the threat of wildfires, Wawanesa Insurance is offering $150,000 in Community Wildfire Prevention Grants in partnership with FireSmart Canada and the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. The deadline to apply for the Community Wildfire Prevention Grants is November 29, 2024.

    The initiative is part of Wawanesa’s commitment to building stronger, more resilient communities through its Climate Champions Program, which provides $2 million annually to support people on the front lines of climate change. Through the Community Wildfire Prevention Grants, up to $15,000 will be provided to as many as 10 organizations working to make a difference.

    “This summer’s devastating wildfire season was another stark reminder of the growing concern over climate change and its profound impact on the environment,” said Jackie De Pape Hornick, Director of Communications & Community Impact at Wawanesa. “As a mutual insurer, we have a critical role to play in protecting our communities. By providing local organizations with the support needed to proactively implement wildfire prevention measures, Wawanesa is helping build a safer, healthier, more sustainable future.”

    This is the third straight year Wawanesa has offered Community Wildfire Prevention Grants. Some of the previous recipients include rural municipalities, Indigenous communities, residents’ associations, and volunteer fire departments. Funding allocated through the grant program has supported a wide range of activities, from vegetation management programs and community risk assessments to public awareness events and wildfire education campaigns.

    All submissions for Community Wildfire Prevention Grants will be evaluated by a committee of wildfire prevention experts from Wawanesa, FireSmart Canada, and ICLR, with funding recipients announced in March 2025. For project eligibility and application criteria, please visit wawanesa.com/wildfire-grants.

    About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
    The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, founded in 1896, is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurers, with over $3.5 billion in annual revenue and assets of $10 billion. Wawanesa Mutual, with its National Headquarters in Winnipeg, is the parent company of Wawanesa Life, which provides life insurance products and services throughout Canada, and Western Financial Group, which distributes personal and business insurance across Canada. Wawanesa proudly serves more than 1.7 million members in Canada. The company actively gives back to organizations that strengthen communities, donating more than $3.5 million annually to charitable organizations, including over $2 million annually in support of people on the front lines of climate change. Learn more at wawanesa.com.

    For more information:
    Michel Rosset
    Manager, Corporate Communications & Media Relations
    The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
    media@wawanesa.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: B.C. election: Party proposals on climate action point in opposite directions

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Kathryn Harrison, Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia

    With affordability, housing and health care at the top of voters’ minds in British Columbia, they haven’t heard much about climate change with less than a week to go until the provincial election.

    In fact, between B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad acknowledging that “man” is impacting the climate and the NDP’s reversal on the carbon tax, casual observers might conclude that the parties have converged on climate.

    But a closer look at the platforms and policy announcements of the province’s Conservatives, New Democrats and Greens reveals fundamental differences on almost every climate-related policy.

    While there is uncertainty about how much B.C.’s emissions would decline under another NDP government, they would almost certainly increase under a new Conservative one.

    Climate action measures

    The parties differ on the threat posed by climate change and urgency of action. The NDP and Green platforms both acknowledge the “climate crisis,” and each devotes a chapter on protecting communities from extreme weather, such as flooding, wildfires and heat domes like the one that occurred in 2021.



    Read more:
    How an ‘atmospheric river’ drenched British Columbia and led to floods and mudslides

    In contrast, the Conservatives claim climate change is not a crisis and that wildfires are a natural occurrence, without acknowledging how the blazes are amplified by climate change-driven heat and drought. The party favours adaptation technology over a “doom cult” perspective.

    The three parties also present very different visions of B.C.’s economic future. Both the NDP and Greens emphasize the province’s comparative advantage in clean energy, and commit to skills training for the renewable energy and clean tech sectors.

    In contrast, the Conservative proposal for a “free and prosperous” B.C. does not mention climate change or clean energy, while the party’s “clean energy” announcement embraces natural gas heating and oil-powered vehicles.

    The Conservatives propose to scrap “any and all carbon taxes,” which suggests both the consumer and industrial carbon taxes. Although the party indicates it would do so “regardless of what happens in Ottawa,” the current federal government would respond by imposing both federal carbon taxes, as it has in other provinces.

    The NDP would repeal only the consumer tax if the federal government does. The Greens would retain both taxes and remove sectoral benchmarks below which industrial polluters don’t pay the tax.

    On electricity, the NDP proposes to double renewable electricity capacity by 2050 to substitute for declining consumption of fossil fuels. The party highlights BC Hydro’s recent call for clean power, which yielded proposals for triple the capacity originally sought.

    The Greens similarly propose to expand rooftop solar and other renewables. The Conservatives welcome “all power sources,” including renewables, but also natural gas plants and nuclear.

    Flood waters cover highway 1 in Abbotsford, B.C., in November 2021.
    THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

    Managing emissions

    Transportation contributes the largest share of B.C.’s emissions at 35 per cent. The Conservatives would repeal the zero-emissions vehicle mandate and low-carbon fuel standard. The other two parties would retain those policies, and both commit to expanding electric vehicle charging networks.

    Oil and gas accounts for the next largest share of B.C.’s emissions at 20 per cent. The NDP election platform commits to implement a cap on oil and gas emissions. In addition, the NDP government announced in 2023 that future liquid natural gas (LNG) approvals will be conditional on net-zero operations within the province.

    The Conservative Party seeks to double LNG capacity, without mention of either an oil-and-gas cap or net-zero commitment. For their part, the Greens would reject all future LNG development, ban fracking and manage a decline of gas production.

    Buildings contribute another 15 per cent of provincial emissions. The NDP government has published documents that propose provincewide adoption of a zero-emission standard for new buildings and high-efficiency heating equipment standards that would significantly reduce gas consumption in existing buildings.

    The NDP and Greens both promise financial support for rooftop solar, home retrofits and heat pumps. In contrast, the Conservatives argue, without evidence, that the grid cannot support heat pumps and promise to repeal the voluntary zero-carbon building code and a “ban” on natural gas heating.

    B.C. has been a climate laggard

    B.C. has been slow to act on climate. That will make it very challenging to meet our 2030 emissions target.

    But progress will only be made by strengthening climate policies, something both the NDP and Greens commit to do.

    In contrast, the Conservatives promise to repeal current climate policies and halt development of others. But with a growing population and plans for LNG expansion, B.C.’s emissions would increase rather than decline under that strategy.

    As B.C. voters prepare to cast their ballots this week, they’ve got a lot to contemplate on climate.

    Kathryn Harrison receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is chair of the mitigation advisory panel of the Canadian Climate Institute, and a member of British Columbia’s Climate Solutions Council, but her comments do not represent either body nor the University of British Columbia.

    – ref. B.C. election: Party proposals on climate action point in opposite directions – https://theconversation.com/b-c-election-party-proposals-on-climate-action-point-in-opposite-directions-241334

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICYMI: Pressley Joins Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)

    Pressley Secured $250K in Federal Funds to Support Project

    Video (YouTube) | Photo (Dropbox)

    BOSTON – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Just A Start, elected officials and community advocates and members for the formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons, a 70,000-square-foot facility designed to address the evolving needs of the community. Rep. Pressley secured $250,000 in federal community project funding to support the center.

    The center brings together affordable housing, state-of-the-art job training for youth and adults, Universal Pre-K classrooms, and community resources—all under one roof. By consolidating services, the Hub will serve over 2,800 individuals annually, building long-term pathways to economic stability and opportunity in the region.

    “Today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony at Rindge Commons is a testament to the commitment Just A Start and our communities have to uplifting one another and expanding economic opportunities for our neighbors,” said Rep. Pressley. “I was proud to secure $250,000 in federal community project funding to make this effort a reality, and I look forward to seeing the long-term impact the Economic Mobility Hub will have on families across the Massachusetts 7th.” 

    “The Rindge Commons is an incredible example of collaboration and partnership,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Not only did its development involve federal and state agencies and the private sector, but this building also addresses our state’s need for affordable housing and promotes economic development in Cambridge. Our administration was proud to support this expansion, and we congratulate the team at Just A Start for their hard work.”

    “We are thrilled to see Just A Start growing with its new addition of the Economic Mobility Hub at Rindge Commons,” said Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao. “This project will support affordable housing, a safe space for children, and career training for adults. We congratulate Just a Start on its expansion, and we’re so grateful for its work supporting Massachusetts residents.”

    “MassHousing is thrilled to be a partner in Just A Start’s Rindge Commons that has delivered 24 brand-new affordable rental homes as well the dynamic Economic Mobility Hub that will be providing educational and job-training opportunities for youth and adults,” said MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay. “This development will also allow Just A Start to coordinate its many mission-driven community programs and efforts to promote equitable communities in greater Cambridge from one new, integrated space.”

    “The Rindge Commons development is aligned with LIIF’s commitment to support projects that build equity, opportunity, and wellbeing in communities that need it most,” said Kirsten Shaw, Vice President of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions of Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). “The development’s wide-ranging impact will improve vibrancy and quality of life in the community, and we’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to support this project with New Markets Tax Credits and additional financing. The Rindge project demonstrates how important public-private partnerships are to driving community revitalization and resiliency efforts.”

    Footage of the event can be found here and photos are here.

    Rep. Pressley secured federal funding for the center in the Fiscal Year 2024 government spending package that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Biden. Rep. Pressley has secured approximately $35 million in federal community project funding for the Massachusetts 7th since Fiscal Year 2022.

    • On June 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Boston Medical Center (BMC) to celebrate $370,000 in federal community project funding she secured to support BMC’s Violence Intervention Advocacy Program. 
    • On June 18, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea HealthCare Center to celebrate $1,150,000 in federal community project funding she secured to support Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) efforts to address the statewide shortage of bilingual, culturally diverse mental health providers for immigrant and limited English proficiency communities.
    • On April 22, 2204, Rep. Pressley and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) visited Nubian Square in Roxbury for a roundtable discussion to celebrate the $1,000,000 million in federal funding they secured for the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA).
    • On March 28, 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Roxbury to celebrate the $1,000,000 in federal funding she secured to provide emergency childcare support for families experiencing homelessness in the City of Boston.
    • In February 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea City Hall for a roundtable and press conference to celebrate the $750,000 in federal funding she secured for the City of Chelsea’s and City of Everett’s Island End River Coastal Flood Resilience Project.
    • In January 2024, Rep. Pressley visited Somerville to celebrate the $2.4 million in federal funding she secured to support the community-led transformation of the Clarendon Hill housing community, an ethnically, linguistically and economically diverse neighborhood.
    • In December 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Brighton to celebrate $400,000 she delivered for Amplify Latinx’s ALX Small Business Program.
    • In November 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Roxbury Community College (RCC) to celebrate $1 million in federal community project funding she secured for Northeastern University’s Roxbury Associate’s to Master’s Workforce Accelerator (RA2MWA).
    • In June 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Chelsea to celebrate $2,000,000 in federal community project funding she secured to improve the Broadway Corridor—home to an array of BIPOC-owned small businesses, vibrant public spaces, high frequency public transit routes, and dense residential housing.
    • In April 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Randolph to celebrate $524,000 she secured for Randolph Public Schools to support a mobile library and STEM programming.
    • In March 2023, Rep. Pressley visited Dorchester to celebrate $250,000 in new Community Project Funding she secured for Big Sister Association of Greater Boston’s one-to-one mentoring and enrichment programs for girls.
    • In February 2023, Rep. Pressley visited the African Community Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE) to celebrate the $643,003 in community project funding she secured for ACEDONE to support small businesses in predominately Black, brown and African immigrant communities.
    • In October 2022, Rep. Pressley visited The Dimock Center in Roxbury to celebrate $1 million in federal community project funding she secured to support substance use treatment and programming at the health center. 
    • In August 2022, Rep. Pressley visited Randolph to deliver $275,000 in federal community project funding for culturally responsive resources and digital literacy tools for Randolph Public Schools.
    • In June 2022, Rep. Pressley visited the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology to deliver $300,000 in direct federal funding for the development of a Clean Energy Building Automation Systems certificate and associate degree program.
    • In May 2022, she visited Bunker Hill Community College to celebrate the $1,000,000 in federal community project funding she secured to expand the City of Boston’s Tuition-Free Community College program.
    • In April 2022, she visited Randolph to deliver $1,000,000 in federal community project funding for a new school-based community health center at Randolph High School. 
    • In March 2022, she visited La Colaborativa in Chelsea to celebrate the $300,000 in federal community project funding that she delivered for La Colaborativa’s COVID Employment Recovery Program.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cassidy, Rubio, Cornyn, Scott Announce Bill to Replenish Disaster Relief Fund

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rick Scott (R-FL) today announced legislation to appropriate $20 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to help states recover following Hurricanes Francine, Helene, and Milton. The DRF assists individuals, households, states, and non-federal government entities with recovery following natural disasters. As a result of an above-average hurricane season, the DRF is quickly dwindling.
    “Americans help Americans. FEMA needs resources to help those impacted by Hurricanes Milton, Helene, and Francine,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Related to this, I will continue working to make flood insurance affordable again.”
    “Unfortunately, this is a hurricane season no one will soon forget. The Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) is the front line for states, and our constituents, to receive support in the aftermath of natural disasters. While assessments of the full extent of these storms are underway, the DRF cannot be allowed to be depleted. I am proud to announce my colleagues and I will be introducing a bill to provide additional funding to support communities affected by the recent hurricanes,” said Senator Rubio.
    “It is alarming that FEMA has spent almost half of its disaster fund, and there are still weeks left in hurricane season. Congress must take action to ensure critical agencies have sufficient resources to help those impacted by natural disasters recover while also maintaining long-term rebuilding projects,” said Senator Cornyn.
    “I’ve been on the ground in Florida surveying damage and talking to Floridians for weeks as our state prepared for and now responds to and recovers from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. What’s clear is that Florida families and businesses need their federal government to show up where they are and help them get back on their feet. This bill, providing $20 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, will ensure that the agency has what it needs to provide immediate aid to folks in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and other states impacted by disasters while our local communities determine their needs from FEMA, SBA, USDA and other federal agencies. The federal government’s response to hurricanes over the last two years has left too many Floridians, especially our farmers, hurting and with unmet needs. Unfortunately, I am already hearing from local officials and families in Florida that are frustrated by the fact that these disasters have stretched FEMA’s current resources too thin. That is unacceptable. No state is immune from disasters and I hope that none of our colleagues in the Senate will object to the quick passage of this needed funding. Even with this bill, I continue to urge Majority Leader Schumer to bring back the Senate to fully fund other disaster relief functions at the SBA and USDA block grants, and I’m glad that, in my conversations with President Biden, he has completely agreed with me on the need to get this done. While Floridians are incredibly resilient and will rebuild stronger than ever, it’s going to be an all hands on deck effort at the local, state and federal level to come together and support these communities. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to deliver the federal resources Floridians need to recover,” said Senator Scott.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Speech for the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, at the Canadian Climate Institute and Net-Zero Advisory Body’s Fourth Annual Climate Conference

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Speech for the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, at the Canadian Climate Institute and Net-Zero Advisory Body’s Fourth Annual Climate Conference

    October 10, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario

    Check against delivery. This speech has been translated in accordance with the Government of Canada’s official languages policy and edited for posting and distribution in accordance with its communications policy.

    Hello.

    Thank you Gaëtan for that great scene-setting intro.

    I would first like to recognize the fact that we are on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People.

    I am grateful to the caretakers of this land and water, and I ask that you join me in honouring the connection that the Anishnaabeg People have had to this land for millennia.

    This conference comes at a pivotal time.

    Building a cleaner and stronger economy in Canada is the course we are on.

    It is why we are all gathered here – we share a collective understanding and appreciation for both the economic opportunities and the environmental necessity in front of us.

    Now, I see many familiar faces around the audience.

    I know many of you have likely come from out of town.

    There are lots of hard-working people constructively working to attract and steer investment.

    Building a clean economy, like anything that is transformational, requires a vision and clear, bold steps to advance toward it.

    In every sector, we can see examples of that leadership—those stepping up with real vision.

    I think we just heard some great examples of that vision from the previous keynote.

    Two and a half years ago, the Government of Canada launched its climate plan, the most comprehensive plan in our history.

    We did our homework, building on the work of our predecessors, to give Canada a truly credible path towards carbon neutrality.

    Sector-by-sector, we showed how we could do it – how we could really do it – together.

    And since then, with the help of everyone in this room, we’ve put that plan into motion.

    Combine industry leadership, with a careful but ambitious balance of investments and regulatory tools: we are bending the curve on Canada’s emissions.

    I can tell you this is something I hear all the time.

    But more importantly our plan is working. Evidence of progress is rolling in.

    Recently, the Canadian Climate Institute, showed our country’s net emissions are starting to drop, between 2022 to 2023.

    The Institute also found that Canada’s economy continued to grow while emissions declined—what we call “decoupling.”

    What does that mean?

    It means growing the economy in 2024 does not mean more pollution.

    In fact, it points to the larger transformation underway.

    Now, Canadians may best associate our climate plan with carbon pricing.

    Could you blame them?

    But there are in fact over 100 measures we have put in place as part of our climate plan that serve as the foundation of a cleaner economy for Canada.

    Those measures have taken us from a place where, in 2015, we were projected to blow past our emission targets for 2030, to where we are now.

    Our emissions are now at their lowest point in 25 years.

    Never have we seen a drop in emissions, while our economy is chugging at full steam.

    This progress should not be taken for granted.

    We need to keep our horse in the race of a global economy that is moving faster than ever.

    I’m very pleased to share some exciting news from yesterday on how we’re trying to move the dial further on developing a clean energy economy.

    First: yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister Freeland announced the guidelines for a Made-in-Canada sustainable investment taxonomy and mandatory climate disclosures for the largest Canadian private businesses.

    The sustainable investment taxonomy gives investors certainty on whether their investments are consistent with meeting global climate targets.

    It provides needed clarity that will boost financing from the private sector for sustainable activities across the Canadian economy.

    That includes things like building EV batteries, generating clean energy and decarbonization projects in heavy industries.

    The taxonomy will help direct investment to much-needed job-creating activities.

    Many of you will have seen the headlines on this…

    Simply put: Projects need to be credibly aligned with limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius to be considered a “green” or “transition” investment.

    Of course, developing these guidelines do not prevent investors from deciding where they wish to put their money.

    They are purely voluntary.

    But they do provide a common language on whether investments support climate goals or not.

    Similarly, requiring large businesses to provide climate-related financial disclosures to shareholders will help attract investment into sustainable activities across the economy.

    Disclosures help investors better understand how large businesses are thinking about and managing risks related to climate change.

    And we look forward to fleshing out that regulatory approach.

    We are building on the success of our Green Bond program.

    Like the taxonomy, Green Bonds direct financial flows towards those business opportunities that are key to reaching our net-zero targets.

    We have now launched Green Bonds twice in the market. First in 2022, and again earlier this year.

    Both times, the final book orders far exceeded the original offering.

    And because of that demand, we re-opened a third Green Bond this week.

    I am pleased to report that demand is still strong, and we are well over the offering amount.

    So, sustainable finance is the way to go.

    Let me give you another more tangible example.

    Last year, the Government of Canada delivered on the Clean Fuel Regulations, which encourages oil and gas refineries to lower the carbon intensity of their fuel production.

    Because of built-in incentives within this policy, we have already seen significant investments:

    Over $53 billion in investments have been announced across Canada in low-carbon intensity fuels such as green hydrogen, renewable diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel.

    For example, the oil refinery in Come-By-Chance, Newfoundland was converted into a major renewable diesel facility.

    The federal government supported Braya Renewable Fuels to commercialize its production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

    It started operations in February 2024 and now produces up to 18,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel.

    Two hundred people work there full-time.

    These and similar companies now have the ability to create and sell valuable credits for supplying low carbon fuel to Canada.

    That’s progress.

    And it comes from creating the right support and incentive structures for the industry.

    I was delighted to listen to our previous speaker Adam Auer, the President and CEO of the Cement Association of Canada.

    It has taken determination to turn words into action, and guide the change we’ve witnessed in the cement industry over the past two years.

    It takes a lot of heat and energy to make cement using conventional processes.

    As you heard earlier this morning, the Cement Association of Canada decided they had to change.

    This industry released their roadmap to cleaner sources of fuel. And as you heard, they stuck to their plan.

    The results were apparent to me this summer, when I visited a green cement plant in St. Marys, Ontario.

    This is where carbon pricing—and in this case industrial carbon pricing—really gets a chance to shine.

    With money collected by the federal government from carbon pricing system on industry, we re-invested those revenues into an emissions reduction project at St. Marys Cement.

    There is so much misinformation coming at us through various channels that not everyone is sure carbon pricing works.

    It does, and here’s how:

    With money collected by the federal government from industrial pollution pricing, we re-invested in an emissions reduction project at St. Marys Cement.

    New kiln technology was installed that uses low-carbon fuels.

    This new process reduces the use of high-priced carbon-intensive fuels by up to 30%.

    This means less climate pollution and cleaner air for the town.

    It also increases the company’s long-term competitiveness and sustainability. And pride!

    Take a town like St. Marys with a population of under nine thousand people.

    A major employer in that town makes a significant low-carbon change in its production process.

    From that, we get direct positive results:

    • First, the sustainability of the jobs at the cement plant.
    • Second, the drop in greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to 9,400 gas-powered cars off the road for a year.
    • Third, they are saving energy costs for their business.

    Examples like this play out in countless communities across the country.

    Government has an important role in mobilizing the investments to get these projects underway.

    But how does Canada keep up the momentum? Well, let’s just look at the growing clean energy sector.

    Internationally, this sector has achieved lift-off.

    I mean, Europe is now at three quarters of renewable and clean energy sources. It’s incredible.

    Clean sources of power are reliable, they are increasingly cheaper to build and the energy generated is cheaper to store.

    Clean energy enterprises are in a state of super-evolution.

    In New Brunswick, the Burchill Wind Energy Project is one of the largest battery energy storage facilities in Atlantic Canada.

    It’s just outside of Saint John and is overseen by the Tobique First Nation.

    When I visited earlier this year, Tobique First Nation Chief Ross Perley, said it best:

    “One of our traditional values as a nation is to take care of the environment.

    Green energy projects are going to start taking over, and they’re going to dominate, and that’s the way to the future.”

    Chief Perley got it right.

    And it’s no coincidence that Indigenous Peoples in Canada are playing such a major role in the clean energy revolution. We see it from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

    Canada is already in a good position with the vast majority of our electricity from non-emitting sources.

    We know that demand will likely double over the coming decades.

    It is no longer a matter of doing the “right thing for the environment” but also the “right thing for business”

    Across the countries, companies are shifting investment towards cleaner industry to meet our future energy demands.

    That’s why we launched new investment tax credits for clean electricity production, which add to a range of programs supporting electricity.

    Labour groups have endorsed these credits because for employers to receive their full value they must commit to fair payment of good-paying union-level jobs.

    And we will launch the clean electricity regulations that back our strategy for a cleaner grid in Canada.

    There are so many opportunities awaiting, nationwide.

    You’re in this room because you have seen a business pivot or you have guided a business to respond to events, to adjust, to morph, to reinvent itself.

    Changing the way we power our daily lives and our Canadian society really starts with changing the way that we THINK.

    The federal government is here to guide growth, to support the science and to spark investment.

    Canada’s robust, clean economy will allow us to enjoy prosperous lives while respecting the natural environment, instead of destroying or exploiting it.

    The climate crisis requires us to be innovative together, to encourage each other, and to keep the conversations going.

    Thank you for your time, your thoughtfulness and for the perspective you’ll bring back home from this conference.

    Enjoy the day.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: DOE and NREL Launch Programa Acceso Solar (Solar Access Program) Providing Subsidized Solar Panels and Battery Storage to Puerto Rican Households

    Source: US National Renewable Energy Laboratory

    Effort To Increase Grid Resilience and Energy Access for Low-Income Communities in Puerto Rico Enters Its Next Phase

    After Hurricane Fiona in October 2022, President Joe Biden visited Puerto Rico and pledged to leverage the technical support of federal agencies to improve the archipelago’s electric grid.

    In December 2022, President Biden signed the Fiscal Year 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act into law, which included $1 billion to establish the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF) to drive key investments in renewable and resilient energy infrastructure in the commonwealth. The fund also supports Puerto Rico’s goal of meeting 100% of its electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Grid Deployment Office launched the PR-ERF in February 2023 to alleviate both the energy cost and grid resilience challenges that Puerto Ricans face.

    In the summer of 2023, DOE issued a funding opportunity announcement—a public notice to fund installations and consumer protection for its new Programa Acceso Solar, an initiative to connect low-income households across Puerto Rico with subsidized rooftop solar and battery storage systems. The funding opportunity announcement gave solar companies, nonprofits, energy cooperatives, and governmental bodies a chance to apply for federal funding. DOE also launched the Solar Ambassador Prize, a complementary competitive funding opportunity for organizations in Puerto Rico to help identify, engage, and assist with the intake processing of qualifying households for residential solar and battery installations. Currently, 14 solar ambassadors selected through the prize are actively working to identify eligible households for subsidized solar and battery storage installations through Programa Acceso Solar.

    The Programa Acceso Solar and the Solar Ambassador Prize make up the first round of PR-ERF funding. In July 2024, DOE announced the second phase—the Programa de Comunidades Resilientes (Resilient Communities Program)—to increase energy resilience for community healthcare facilities and shared spaces within subsidized multifamily housing. These PR-ERF programs will be implemented over the next few years with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) continued support of the program design.

    Building Energy Resilience Through Collaborative Success of the Programa Acceso Solar

    Applications are currently open for Puerto Rican households to apply to the Programa Acceso Solar, and solar installers have already begun installing subsidized solar and battery storage systems for low-income homeowners. The Programa Acceso Solar provides these installations with zero upfront costs, including education and support on how to use and maintain the systems through partnerships with several installers and community-based organizations.

    “The impact of the Programa Acceso Solar will be incredible,” NREL Project Lead Mike Campton said. “Thousands of people will be able to access reliable and affordable electricity for their homes. I am incredibly proud to say that NRELians played a huge role in delivering this positive impact to Puerto Ricans.”

    NREL’s team helped DOE determine which homes qualified for solar and battery installation and facilitated outreach and intake efforts. NREL’s Caleigh Isaacks, project manager, led the team assisting DOE’s Grid Deployment Office in developing, implementing, and managing the prize since the program’s inception. In addition, the NREL team has also contributed to outreach efforts, including webinars and training sessions, and played a key role in shaping the funding structure and rules.

    “It is truly special to be a part of such an important project,” Isaacks said. “The team’s efforts in collaborating with local community-based organizations for outreach and directly assisting homeowners across Puerto Rico are critical to rebuilding the grid there.”

    Thousands of low-income households across Puerto Rico are eligible for solar and battery storage systems through the Programa Acceso Solar. This includes households in areas most affected by frequent and prolonged power outages, as well as those with residents dependent on electricity-powered medical equipment.

    Energy analysts and software engineers at NREL, like Brian Mirletz, lead the research efforts to support the Programa Acceso Solar. Mirletz evaluated potential designs for residential solar-plus-battery storage systems using NREL’s System Advisor Model™. With this model, Mirletz determined how factors such as the energy needs of equipment for people with disabilities could impact the systems’ ability to meet critical loads during power outages.

    Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the Mayor of Loíza, Julia Nazario Fuentes, talk with a homeowner who received one of the first solar and battery storage systems through the Programa Acceso Solar in July 2024. Photo by DOE

    In early July, inspectors from partner installers evaluated the first applicants’ homes to receive systems through Programa Acceso Solar. One inspected home now awaits the installation of an almost 6-kilowatt solar and battery system. The program will cover the majority of the homeowner’s nearly $200 monthly electricity costs. Once the system is installed, the homeowner will pay only $20 per month to cover maintenance expenses.

    “I’m thrilled to hear about the first of those systems being installed!” Mirletz said. “It is amazing to see a physical realization of the analysis work our team has done for this project in the last year and what it will mean for communities in Puerto Rico in the future.”

    Learn more about the Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study and the Solar Ambassador Prize. Read about NREL’s grid modernization research.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Dinner for Defence Chiefs 2024

    Source: New Zealand Governor General

    E nga rau rangatira mā, e huihui nei I tenei po, tēnei aku mihi nui ki a koutou. Nau mai, piki mai, tauti mai.

    Thank you for accepting the invitation to join Richard and myself here for dinner at Government House. I especially wanted the chance to meet the most senior leaders of the NZDF, with a new CDF and new Heads of Armed Services. You take up these roles at a critical time in the country and world history.

    This is an opportunity to thank you and your loved ones, for the support you give me in undertaking my role as Governor General and Commander-in-Chief.

    I have had the opportunity over the past three years to meet the men and women serving our nation and I couldn’t be prouder of the calibre of people that we have defending our interests – whether it be in peace-keeping or Treaty monitoring, surveillance and intelligence, or information gathering to inform our national and international obligations, we do a sterling job with far fewer resources than other five-eye nations.

    Current conflict in Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and Syria, highlights the sometimes life-threatening circumstances our United Nations peace-keepers can encounter in our nation’s commitment to contribute to a wider international rules based order and stability.

    Cyclone Gabrielle and subsequent extreme weather events, remind New Zealanders of how much we and our Pacific neighbours depend on the courage and expertise of Defence personnel to assist people in coping with the aftermath of extreme weather events. Climate change is a huge challenge for us all.

    I have been proud to act as reviewing officer at graduation ceremonies and Beat Retreat in Waitangi and look forward to ‘push the colour’ at the upcoming Kings Colour ceremony in Christchurch which reinstates a crucial part of our military legacy, recognising as it does the Māori Battalion and Pioneer Battalion battles. We will be the first Commonwealth country to issue the new Kings Colours under King Charles III.

    Tonight’s dinner is our way of saying, on behalf of fellow New Zealanders, how much we appreciate your leadership in the delivery of Defence services on behalf of Aotearoa New Zealand.

    I fully intended this to be a celebration of recent leadership appointments. At the same time, I acknowledge HMNZS Manawanui and the aftermath of its loss may be top of mind for us all.

    My thoughts have been with you all, especially Rear Admiral Golding, the crew of Manawanui and Defence personnel involved in the response to this sinking.

    The progress of Defence Chiefs through to the highest levels of command is testament to the wealth of experience, training, and expertise you bring to those challenges, and which will serve you in good stead in inspiring those you lead with hope and confidence into the future.

    Every time I visit other countries, be it the Republic of Korea such as the DMZ, Malaysia or Australia, they sing the praises of the New Zealand members of the Armed Forces and their contribution to their efforts. This goes beyond doing one’s duty, to being the best person to fulfil a wider brief of leadership and collaboration. Thank you for this.

    I wish you all the very best with your duties and look forward to working with you all. Please enjoy the hospitality of Government House tonight.

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Green transition key for agri-food sector

    Source: China State Council Information Office 2

    The venue of the 2024 World Agri-food Innovation Conference (WAFI 2024) is seen in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 11, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A global panel of agrarians has called for the innovation-driven green transition of the world’s agri-food system, as part of efforts to curb carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change on food production.
    While some food-producing regions have initially benefited from warmer weather, the substantial uncertainties caused by global warming are disrupting agriculture across Asia, Africa and South America, the experts said.
    They made the remarks on the sidelines of the 2024 World Agri-Food Innovation Conference, held in Beijing earlier this month. The event was organized by China Agricultural University.
    Sun Qixin, president of China Agricultural University and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told China Daily that mainstream models indicate a 6 to 8 percent decrease in food production for every 1 C increase in global temperatures, unless technological innovations are introduced to alleviate these effects.
    “However, the impact of a warmer climate is not uniform across the globe,” he said.
    Despite instances of warmer and wetter climate boosting food production in some areas that were previously cold and prone to drought, the sudden and extreme shifts in weather patterns are causing widespread disruptions in food production globally, Sun noted.
    Given that the green transition necessitates a substantial reduction in agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, it is crucial to invest in research and technological innovations to ensure that these reforms do not result in decreased output, Sun said.
    “We must proceed in this direction despite the challenges,” he added.
    An estimate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body for evaluating climate science, showed that the agri-food sector, covering the entire cycle from food cultivation to consumption, contributes one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
    Fu Wenge, a professor at China Agricultural University, said that innovations facilitating green transition do not always require groundbreaking scientific discoveries, adding that sometimes, minor and cost-effective reforms in management models and other fields can bring significant changes.
    Fu cited the university’s Science and Technology Backyard project, which encourages students to live and work alongside smallholding farmers in rural areas as part of their education programs. The arrangement aims to help promote high-yield crop varieties and environmentally friendly farming practices among rural farming communities. “This model has been implemented in Africa and other regions,” he said.
    Ismahane Elouafi, executive managing director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, or CGIAR, a global partnership that unites research groups for a food-secure future, said that the green transition could be achieved through innovations that span technological, policy and institutional levels and include models for countries to work together.
    “The impact of climate change is multiplying every day, and the only way forward for us is to adopt innovation in its broad sense to really transform the agriculture system,” she said.
    The experts also called for greater awareness of increasing food production with reduced carbon footprint and more care for the environment.
    Patrick Caron, vice-chair of the CGIAR system board, said that humans have managed to increase food production throughout history, as living conditions improved and consumption patterns changed.
    “However, at the moment, we are looking at the increase of production with a different angle,” he said, referring to greater care to avoid climate change and degradations of land, water and biodiversity.
    Makers of food policy point to China as a source of hope amid the gloomy outlook of increasing food insecurity worldwide, citing the country’s ambitious goal to boost its annual food production capacity to approximately 700 million metric tons by 2030, up from the 695 million tons in 2023.
    Elouafi, the CGIAR executive managing director, said, “I think China really is a bright spot in the global picture, and not only in increasing productivity in a very smart way, but also in reducing poverty and hunger.”
    Despite a recent reversal in global progress, the world made significant strides in alleviating hunger and poverty between 2000 and 2017, largely because of China’s efforts, she said.
    Elouafi noted that China’s adoption of technologies and innovations in the agri-food sector, along with its initiatives to enhance rural incomes, played a pivotal role in the success.
    Wednesday marked World Food Day, which has been celebrated annually on Oct 16 since 1981 to raise awareness and promote action for fighting hunger and ensuring food security for all.
    At a news conference on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that as the world’s largest food producer, China attaches great importance to global food security.
    “China has provided more funding and experts and undertaken more projects than any other developing country under the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s South-South Cooperation Programme,” she said.
    Mao added that China is willing to continue strengthening cooperation on food security with all parties to strive for a world free of hunger.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Hong Kong Observatory Open Day “Working Together for a Better Climate” to be held

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

         The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) will hold the HKO Open Day on November 30 and December 1 (Saturday and Sunday), with the theme “Working Together for a Better Climate”.

         This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The Open Day activities will not only showcase the various services of the HKO and enhance public understanding and awareness of climate change and extreme weather, but they will also provide a brief overview of the long-standing collaboration between the HKO and meteorological authorities in Mainland China and around the world over the years.

         Online pre-registration is required for the Open Day activities. Each applicant may request a maximum of four tickets free of charge. If there is an oversubscription, selection will be made by computer balloting. The online registration system will accept applications from today (October 17) to noon on November 1. Successful applicants will receive tickets with a QR code by email on or before November 16.

         Open Day details:

    Venue: Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters (134A Nathan Road, Kowloon)
    Date: November 30 and December 1 (Saturday and Sunday)
    Time: 9.30am to 5pm
    Remarks: The duration of each session is around one hour

         For more information on the Open Day activities, please visit the HKO website: http://www.hkoopenday.gov.hk/en/registration.
     

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Media Release: Net zero goals a step closer with Moomba CCS project milestone – Australian Energy Producers

    Source: Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association

    Headline: Media Release: Net zero goals a step closer with Moomba CCS project milestone – Australian Energy Producers

    First injection and full ramp up at the Moomba carbon capture and storage (CCS) project marks a major milestone for Australia’s rollout of this crucial net zero technology.

    Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said the Santos and Beach Energy Moomba joint venture demonstrates the Australian oil and gas sector is driving progress to net zero, deploying proven technologies to cut emissions today.

    “At Moomba, Santos has proven what the industry has long known – that CCS is real and it works. It’s a first for onshore in Australia,” she said.

    “Australia is now host to two of the largest CO2 storage projects in the world, with Moomba and Chevron’s Gorgon project storing emissions equivalent to taking one million cars off the road each year.”

    Around the world, there are more than 50 large-scale CCS projects in operation, with a further 550 under development.

    “This global momentum for CCS is essential for achieving climate goals, with the International Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and CSIRO all clear that there is no pathway to net zero without CCS,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “CCS is particularly important for manufacturing, because without it industries like fertiliser and chemical production, iron and steel, and cement, will find it harder and more expensive to reach net zero.”

    In Australia, between two and 20 Moomba-scale CCS projects need to be built each year between now and 2050 to reach net zero, according to the Net Zero Australia study. 

    “Australia has a comparative advantage in CCS, with world class geology, industry experience, and strong links with regional trading partners looking to collaborate on CCS,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “Scaling up CCS is an opportunity not just to reduce emissions but to create new jobs and attract new investment.”

    However, CCS continues to be kept on the sidelines of energy and climate policies in Australia.

    “Australia is increasingly out of step with the rest of the world in failing to provide meaningful policy support for this critical technology,” Ms McCulloch said.

    “If Australia is going to reach net zero, while managing cost of living pressures for Australian households and businesses, we need to take a technology-neutral, least-cost approach to emissions reductions, and this includes CCS.”

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Severe thunderstorms are sweeping through southern Australia. But what makes a thunderstorm ‘severe’?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Brown, Research Fellow in Climate Science, The University of Melbourne

    Jamestorm/Shutterstock

    Clusters of severe thunderstorms are expected to strike Australia’s southern regions over Thursday and Friday.

    The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe weather warnings and forecasts related to these unusually widespread stormy conditions as they move through South Australia today and into Victoria.

    As of October 17th, there’s a risk of severe thunderstorms for parts of central and southern Australia.

    Some areas have already experienced golf ball-sized hail and intense winds.

    While we might not always think of thunderstorms as a threat, severe storms can be surprisingly damaging. The enormous Sydney thunderstorm of 1999 dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hail, causing widespread damage to cars and roofs. At the time, it was the most expensive natural disaster on record, overtaken only by the unprecedented 2022 floods across eastern Australia – which were themselves partly caused by severe thunderstorms in addition to other weather systems.

    When severe thunderstorms bring torrential rain, they can often trigger flash flooding. This is because extreme rain from thunderstorms usually falls over a relatively short time – less than an hour or two in many cases. Lightning can also pose a threat.

    In recent years, severe thunderstorms have also shown they can damage the power grid. In 2016, huge rotating supercell storms brought intense winds and at least seven tornadoes to South Australia, toppling transmission towers and causing a statewide blackout. Smaller thunderstorms caused major outages in Victoria in February this year after taking down six towers.

    But what makes a thunderstorm “severe”?

    The ingredients for a storm

    What triggers thunderstorms? Climate scientists and meteorologists often talk about the ingredients necessary for thunderstorms.

    To make a normal thunderstorm, you need to have a lot of moisture in the air. Then you need vertical instability in the atmosphere, meaning relatively warm moist air near the surface and very cold air above. You also need a mechanism to lift warmer surface air up to a level where the atmospheric instability can be released.

    For a severe thunderstorm, you need all those ingredients and usually one more: vertical wind shear. This means that wind speeds and direction differ with height. For example, you might have strong northerly winds down low, and strong southerly winds up higher.

    Vertical wind shear can make a run-of-the-mill thunderstorm much more intense, in a range of ways. For instance, wind shear can help warm updrafts stay separate from cold downdrafts and rainfall, which can help make the storm last longer.

    If a thunderstorm has large hail, damaging wind gusts or could trigger a tornado or flash flooding, this makes it a severe thunderstorm, according to Bureau of Meteorology classification.

    You might have also heard of supercell storms. These are convective thunderstorms, characterised by strong, rotating updrafts that last for a long time.

    Forecasters can predict the potential for severe thunderstorms several days out by looking for moisture-laden air and winds. But predicting exactly where and when they might pop up is extremely challenging.

    Severe storms can bring lightning, hail, intense winds and rain. Pictured: a previous thunderstorm over Perth’s northern suburbs.
    cephotoclub/Shutterstock

    What’s unusual about these storms?

    The storms this week are unusually widespread, with thunderstorms possible from Kalbarri in central Western Australia down through Esperance, across into South Australia, into Victoria and up through New South Wales and southern Queensland.

    These conditions are due to a large-scale low pressure system moving west to east.

    As this large low pressure system moves east, it brings thunderstorms. This map shows the low pressure system on October 16th.
    Bureau of Meteorology, CC BY-NC-ND

    Ahead of the arrival of this low pressure system, winds from the north are bringing down moisture and instability and priming the system for thunderstorms. When air near the low pressure system begins to rise, energy from the warm, moisture-laden and unstable air can be released. This includes energy release due to condensation of water vapour. These rising air currents can travel several kilometres up into the atmosphere, even reaching the top of the troposphere, 10–15km up.

    Severe thunderstorms in southern Australia are more likely in spring and summer. That’s because there’s plenty of moisture available from the tropics and the warm oceans around Australia, while low pressure systems and cold fronts can still emerge from the cold oceans to our south.

    Thunderstorms, tornadoes and fire

    Severe thunderstorms can also pack a hidden punch. They can trigger tornadoes in extreme cases.

    In August, severe thunderstorms hit northern Victoria and triggered a tornado, a destructive whirling column of air that damaged houses and farms in the high country.

    This surprised many people. It’s generally known that Australia has tropical cyclones in the north, intense tropical storms coming in off the sea, but not as well known to have tornadoes.

    In fact, Australia does get tornadoes – an estimated 30–80 each year. In 2013, a total of 69 known tornadoes caused almost 150 injuries. Many of these tornadoes spin out of supercells.

    In Australia’s hotter months, many fires burn around the country. Thunderstorms can make fires worse by bringing strong, warm northerly winds, often with rapid variations in speed and direction that can increase the rate of spread of a fire.

    Firefighters and first responders dread these conditions. Australia’s most deadly bushfire was Black Saturday in 2009, which killed 173 people. One reason it was so dangerous was its suddenness. Intense northerly winds brought down powerlines and started fires, which were quickly whipped into intense firestorms, including thunderstorms generated in the fire plumes.

    Will climate change bring more severe storms?

    As the world heats up, more water is evaporating off warm sea surfaces and hanging in the air as water vapour. This means there’s more of this ingredient necessary to fuel severe thunderstorms and more intense rain from thunderstorms.

    What we don’t know for certain yet is how prevailing air currents over Australia are changing. This could shift moisture to different regions, or affect other thunderstorm ingredients like vertical wind shear, instability, and lifting mechanisms. If circulation patterns do change, we could see severe storms develop in new areas, or different times of the year.



    Read more:
    We can’t say yet if grid-breaking thunderstorms are getting worse – but we shouldn’t wait to find out

    Andrew Brown receives funding from the ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather.

    Andrew Dowdy receives funding from University of Melbourne, including through the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and the Melbourne Energy Institute.

    – ref. Severe thunderstorms are sweeping through southern Australia. But what makes a thunderstorm ‘severe’? – https://theconversation.com/severe-thunderstorms-are-sweeping-through-southern-australia-but-what-makes-a-thunderstorm-severe-241555

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK and Solomon Islands Environment Ministry support waste management education initiatives

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The UK government’s Ocean Country Partnership Programme and the Solomon Islands government through its Ministry of Environment provide education packs to schools.

    Group photo with students at St Nicholas Anglican College displaying the education packs.

    The Kukum Seventh Day Adventist School, Florence Young Christian School and Saint Nicholas Anglican College in Honiara are the first beneficiaries of primary and secondary education packs to help students understand how to better manage waste and why this is so important for our oceans.

    These education packs are being provided to schools alongside recycling bins, as the Solomon Islands and UK look to tackle marine pollution.

    These have been possible through the UK Government’s Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) and the Solomon Islands Government through its Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM).

    At the handing over of the education packs to each school on Tuesday 15 October, British High Commissioner to Solomon Islands and Nauru, His Excellency Thomas Coward said:

    Children are our country’s future and educating them about marine biodiversity, marine pollution and sustainable seafood is important. We are pleased to present these education packs to the students and teachers, and we are hopeful they will learn to protect marine pollution.

    The Literacy Association of Solomon Islands (LASI) was engaged by the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) to translate the education packs into Solomon Islands pijin making them simple for both teachers and students at the schools.

    Senior Research Scientist at Cefas, Freya Goodsir said:

    Through the Ocean Country Partnership Programme, we are delighted to collaborate with the Solomon Islands and support initiatives to tackle marine pollution. These education packs and recycling bins will make a real difference to the school communities and inspire the next generation to be leaders in protecting their incredible marine environment.

    Chief Environment Officer, Environment and Conservation Division at the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Wendy Beti said:

    The ministry is thankful to the British High Commission through its OCPP for publishing the primary and secondary education packs we are giving you. The ministry is actively supporting this programme through various initiatives including the provision of recycling bins with some schools having received them and other schools that will be delivered later. OCPP also supports the ministry through coastal water quality monitoring, awareness campaigns and billboards and provincial workshops. We look forward to collaborating with schools and important stakeholders of the programme.

    The school leaders of Kukum SDA School, Florence Young School and St Nicholas School expressed their gratitude for the education packs saying children are at the core of such initiatives as they are the country’s future.

    Construction of eight recycling bins is progressing, and the three schools are expected to receive theirs this month.

    OCPP is funded by the UK Government International Development and delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on behalf of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

    Updates to this page

    Published 17 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI New Zealand: Defence News – Containers to be removed from reef after HMNZS Manawanui sinking

    Source: New Zealand Defence Force
     
    Three shipping containers that came off the sunken Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui will be removed from the reef, with work starting on Friday.
     
    The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is working with a local contractor, ARK Marine, to remove the three shipping containers from the reef off the south-west coast of Upolu.
     
    The three 10ft containers will be floated and then towed to shore. Weather permitting, it is expected to take at least three days to remove all three containers. Preparation by the contractor is underway including getting rigging gear ready for the removal.
     
    Two of the three containers are empty. The third container is carrying 3000kg of food.
     
    The containers are not watertight and have sustained some structural damage, and are being moved by tides and swell.
     
    Samoan Government officials have been involved throughout the process and have approved the removal plan.
     
    NZDF Senior National Representative Commodore Andrew Brown says this is still a complex operation.
     
    “We have carefully considered a number of options for removing the containers. Especially, we are working hard to minimise the impact on the marine environment,” he says.
     
    “Other considerations include the prevailing weather, weight of the containers, and potential biosecurity risks.
     
    “While it is expected it will take three days for the removal of the containers, it may be that weather and sea conditions, or other considerations, mean that the timetable is not met. However, we are hopeful that the conditions will be such that all containers will be removed from the reef over coming days.”

    MIL OSI New Zealand News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: A basic department of “Agrophysical engineering” opened at SPbPU

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    On October 16, a ceremonial signing of the agreement on the establishment of the basic department of “Agrophysical Engineering” in the Civil Engineering Institute on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Agrophysical Research Institute” (AFI) took place. The event was attended by the rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy and the director of the Civil Engineering Institute Marina Petrochenko. AFI was represented by the director Yury Chesnokov and the leading researcher Tatyana Danilova.

    The purpose of creating the basic department is the integration of educational and research activities in priority areas of science and technology: “Rational Nature Management”, “Technologies for Monitoring and Forecasting the State of the Environment, Prevention and Elimination of Pollution”, “Technologies for the Prevention and Elimination of Natural and Man-Made Emergencies”. Including in-depth training of students in the following areas of training: “Construction”, “Technosphere Safety”, “Urban Planning”, “Geoecology”. The development of the main research areas of activity are defined by the “Doctrine of Food Security of the Russian Federation”, “Climate Doctrine of the Russian Federation”, “Ecological Doctrine of the Russian Federation”, as well as the provisions of the “Doctrine of the Development of Russian Science”.

    In the near future, the main areas of activity of the basic department of “Agrophysical Engineering” will be the following scientific and educational projects:

    development and launch of an open online course “Engineering Land Reclamation” within the framework of the “National Open Education Platform” project; implementation of additional professional education programs in the field of agrophysical engineering and hydromelioration; development of methods for cleaning, restoration and restoration of the functionality of tubular subsurface drainage; use of unmanned aerial vehicles to restore drainage systems; assessment of the quality of drainage systems using remote methods; use of digital technologies in mathematical modeling and computer calculations in land reclamation in hydromelioration; improvement of the quality and fertility of agricultural lands through hydromelioration measures.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://vvv.spbstu.ru/media/nevs/education/a basic-department-of-agrophysical-engineering was opened in-spbpo/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: WHO – Despite health gains, urgent action needed to meet health-related Sustainable Development Goals in the Western Pacific Region

    SOURCE: World Health Organization (WHO)

    Manila, Philippines, 17 October 2024 – According to a new report released today, countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region experienced the smallest decline in life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other WHO regions. Life expectancy in the Western Pacific fell by only 0.07 years during 2020-21, a minimal drop compared to the global average decline of 1.7 years. The Western Pacific now has the highest life expectancy among WHO’s six regions, rising from 72.0 years in 2000 to 77.4 years in 2021.

    However, despite this progress, the Region – comprising 37 countries and areas across Asia and the Pacific – is still grappling with critical challenges and is off-track in achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are the global goals adopted by world leaders to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy health, justice and prosperity by 2030. The new WHO report, Health statistics in the Western Pacific Region 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs, highlights advancements made across the Region while also emphasizing the urgent need for action. The report shows that while the COVID-19 pandemic may have done less damage to life expectancy in the Western Pacific than other regions, it nevertheless exacerbated health inequalities and disrupted progress in other areas.

    Noncommunicable diseases on the rise

    While infectious diseases and injuries were previously major causes of illness and death in the Western Pacific, the Region is undergoing a significant epidemiological shift. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer now account for nearly nine in 10 deaths. While the probability of premature death from NCDs has declined in the Region by over 25% since 2000, major challenges remain. Moreover, the Region is experiencing rapid population ageing. There are now more than 245 million people aged 65 and older in the Region – a number that is projected to double by 2050. And many older people are living with NCDs.

    A major risk factor for NCDs is alcohol and tobacco use. Consumption of alcohol in the Region has risen by 40% since 2000. Despite a decline from 7.2 litres per capita per year in 2015 to 6.1 litres in 2019, the overall increase highlights an ongoing concern for public health. Similarly, although tobacco use declined from 28.0% of adults smoking in 2000 to 22.5% in 2022, this was still above the global average of 20.9%.

    Mental health issues are also taking their toll on the population, with alarmingly high suicide rates in some countries of the Western Pacific Region, influenced by factors such as stigma, limited access to mental health services and socioeconomic challenges.

    Climate- and environment-related health concerns are yet another major challenge. While air pollution in urban areas of the Region was found to have decreased from 2010 to 2019, air quality levels are still much worse than the WHO-recommended levels. Populations living in urban areas are therefore continuing to breathe unhealthy air.

    Mixed progress towards universal health coverage

    Universal health coverage (UHC) is another important SDG target for which the Western Pacific Region has had mixed progress. The UHC service coverage index measures access to essential health services such as reproductive, maternal, newborn and child care, and prevention and treatment services for both NCDs and infectious diseases. Over the past 20 years, the overall UHC service coverage index in the Western Pacific increased impressively, from 49 to 79 points out of 100 between 2000 and 2021. However, people’s ability to access health-care services varies greatly across the Region. In some countries, the UHC service coverage index score is as low as 30, meaning many people struggle to access basic health care, while in others, it exceeds 80, indicating a much higher level of service availability and coverage. Despite these advancements, progress has slowed and stagnated since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, and particularly since 2019.

    Despite the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases, access to essential health services for NCDs did not improve significantly, increasing only slightly from 52 points in 2000 to 58 points in 2010. Even more troubling, there has been no further progress since 2010, and access to services remains low, particularly in Pacific island countries and areas.

    In contrast, access to services for infectious diseases improved significantly, rising from just 18 points in 2000 to 82 points in 2021. Immunization coverage for the WHO-recommended three doses against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, or DTP3, showed mixed results from 2000 to 2023: coverage increased in 15 countries, while four countries experienced no change and eight saw a decrease.

    In the Western Pacific Region, average health spending has increased substantially, tripling from around US$ 383 per person in 2000 to US$ 1336 in 2021. On average, health spending accounted for 6.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) at country level in 2000, and rose to 8.2% by 2021. However, despite efforts to increase public spending for health, the proportion of people in the Western Pacific experiencing catastrophic health expenditure − defined as spending more than 10% of their income on health-care − has nevertheless doubled, rising from 9.9% in 2000 to 19.8% in 2019.

    Critical action needed to achieve SDGs

    “While we celebrate the significant health gains that the Western Pacific Region has achieved, we must also acknowledge urgent challenges in sustaining progress,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “We are living longer than ever, and more than any other region of the world, but this isn’t enough. We’re off-track to meet many of the SDG targets, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated health disparities. Now is the time for concerted action to address these issues. We look forward to working with health leaders from across the Region next week to finalize our new vision to weave health for families, communities and societies.”

    New vision for health in the Region

    Ministers of health and other senior officials are preparing for discussions at the seventy-fifth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in Manila on 21−25 October 2024. The meeting will focus on the most pressing health needs in the Region and chart a course to address them.

    Weaving health for families, communities and societies in the Western Pacific Region (2025-2029): Working together to improve health, well-being and save lives is the proposed new vision for the Region. The vision centres on the analogy of weaving a mat – a traditional activity across Asia and the Pacific – symbolizing the collaborative efforts required by WHO, governments and partners to improve population health and well-being. The vision centres on five vertical strands of action led by governments interwoven with three horizontal strands of action by WHO.

    The five vertical strands of action led by governments, working with WHO and other stakeholders include:

    Transformative primary health care for UHC
    Climate-resilient health systems
    Resilient communities, societies and systems for health security
    Healthier people throughout the life course
    Technology and innovation for future health equity.

    The three horizontal strands of action by WHO are:

    Country offices equipped with skills for scaling up and innovation
    Nimble support teams in the Regional Office
    Effective communication for public health.

    These strands reflect the reality that the Western Pacific Region faces complex health challenges that cannot be addressed by the health sector alone. Achieving the goals of SDG 3 − Good health and well-being – will require a concerted effort from multiple sectors. Social determinants of health, including education, housing, employment, social protection, gender equality and the environment, significantly impact health outcomes. Therefore, collaboration between the health, education, urban planning, agriculture and environmental sectors, to name but a few, is crucial. Collaboration can create synergies and co-benefits for all these sectors while accelerating progress towards achieving SDG 3.

    “The commitment of governments, WHO and partners to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is a commitment to health and well-being for all,” added Dr Piukala. “We must work together to ensure that no one is left behind as we weave a healthier future.”

    In addition to the vision, the Regional Committee will also consider new regional action frameworks on digital health and on health financing to achieve UHC and sustainable development. There will be panel discussions on climate-resilient health-care facilities, transformative primary health care and oral health, as well as a special event on the Investment Round to resource WHO’s work for 2025–2028.

    Notes:

    The seventy-fifth session of the Western Pacific Regional Committee will run from Monday, 21 October through Friday, 25 October, at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila, Philippines. The Agenda and timetable are available online. A livestream of proceedings, all other official documents, as well as fact sheets and videos on the issues to be addressed can be accessed here. For real-time updates, follow @WHOWPRO on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube and the hashtag #RCM75.

    Working with 194 Member States across six regions, WHO is the United Nations specialized agency responsible for public health. Each WHO region has its regional committee – a governing body composed of ministers of health and senior officials from Member States. Each regional committee meets annually to agree on health actions and to chart priorities for WHO’s work.

    The WHO Western Pacific Region is home to more than 1.9 billion people across 37 countries and areas: American Samoa (United States of America), Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia (France), Guam (United States of America), Hong Kong SAR (China), Japan, Kiribati, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macao SAR (China), Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, New Caledonia (France), New Zealand, Niue, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (United States of America), Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Viet Nam, Wallis and Futuna (France).

    Related links:

    Health statistics in the Western Pacific Region 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs
    Draft vision Weaving health for families, communities and societies in the Western Pacific Region (2025−2029): Working together to improve health and well-being and save lives
    WHO data on progress towards universal health coverage (UHC)
    Other WHO data which can be searched by country.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds

    Source: Oxfam –

    Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance —nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C.

    An Oxfam audit of the World Bank’s 2017-2023 climate finance portfolio found that between $21 billion and $41 billion in climate finance went unaccounted for between the time projects were approved and when they closed.

    There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used, which makes any assessment of its impacts impossible. It also remains unclear whether these funds were even spent on climate-related initiatives intended to help low- and middle-income countries protect people from the impacts of the climate crisis and invest in clean energy.

    “The Bank is quick to brag about its climate finance billions —but these numbers are based on what it plans to spend, not on what it actually spends once a project gets rolling,” said Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington D.C. Office. “This is like asking your doctor to assess your diet only by looking at your grocery list, without ever checking what actually ends up in your fridge.”

    The Bank is the largest multilateral provider of climate finance, accounting for 52 percent of the total flow from all multilateral development banks combined.

    The issue of climate finance will take center stage at this year’s COP in Azerbaijan, where countries are set to negotiate a new global climate finance goal, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Climate activists are demanding the Global North provide at least $5 trillion a year in public finance to the Global South to pay for climate adaptation, the loss and damage caused by the impacts of climate breakdown, and a just transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Oxfam warns that the lack of traceable spending could undermine trust in global climate finance efforts at this critical juncture.

    “Climate finance is scarce, and yes, we know it’s hard to deliver. But not tracking how or where the money actually gets spent? That’s not just some bureaucratic oversight —it’s a fundamental breach of trust that risks derailing the progress we need to make at COP this year. The Bank needs to act like our future depends on tackling the climate crisis, because it does,” said Donald.

    Oxfam’s investigation revealed that obtaining even basic information on how the World Bank is using climate finance was painstaking and difficult.

    “We had to sift through layers of complex and incomplete reports, and even then, the data was full of gaps and inconsistencies. The fact that this information is so hard to access and understand is alarming —it shouldn’t take a team of professional researchers to figure out how billions of dollars meant for climate action are being spent. This should be transparent and accessible to everyone, most importantly communities who are meant to benefit from climate finance,” said Donald.
     

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Victor Ambros on the team effort behind his Nobel-prize winning discovery of microRNA – podcast

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

    Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were awarded the 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of microRNA, tiny biological molecules that tell the cells in our body what kind of cell to be by turning on and off certain genes.

    In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Ambros about the discovery that led to his Nobel prize and find out what he’s researching now. And we hear about how a deeper understanding of microRNA is opening up new avenues for potential treatment of cancers and other diseases.

    Today, Ambros is a professor of molecular medicine and the Silverman Chair in Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in the US. But the research that won him a Nobel prize was published more than 30 years ago in 1993, when he had just established his own research lab at Harvard University.

    Ambros was trying to understand the way cells get the right instructions from DNA during their development. To do this, he was studying mutations in an experimental organism: a small worm called C. elegans.

    We were studying some mutations and that affected C. elegans’ development in interesting ways – but we were not looking for the involvement of any sort of unexpected kind of molecular mechanisms.

    Ambros’s wife, Rosalind Lee, and another member of the lab team, Rhonda Feinbaum, had spent a couple of years trying to understand the genetic process behind the mutation in a labour-intensive search. What they eventually discovered was a microRNA, a new dimension to gene regulation – the process through which genes are turned on and off in certain cells. As Ambros put it:

    You can say they’re really the heroes behind this, and our job – mine and Gary’s – is to stand in as representatives of the whole enterprise of science, which is so dependent upon teams, collaborations, brainstorming among multiple people, communications of ideas and crucial data … All this is part of the process that underlies successful science like this.

    MicroRNA’s role in cancer

    Thanks to the discoveries of Ambros and Ruvkun back in the 1990s, medical researchers all over the world are looking at how microRNA affects the development of human diseases. One such researcher is Justin Stebbing, a professor of biomedical sciences at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK. He explained:

    MicroRNAs, like many processes, can go wrong and they’ve been implicated in diseases as diverse as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to cancer and kidney failure.

    Stebbing said that in cancer, microRNA has been found to turn off tumour suppressor genes, effectively allowing cancers to spread. But microRNA can also be useful in understanding cancer, and in potential treatments:

    We can work out the right treatments for people based on what we call a microRNA signature. We can understand prognosis, which means how severe people’s cancers are, but we can also try and harness them for treatments to make people better.

    To find out more about the discovery of microRNA and what research is being done on it today, listen to the full episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, which includes an introduction from Vivian Lam, associate health and biomedicine editor at The Conversation in the US.

    This episode of The Conversation Weekly was produced by Katie Flood, Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.

    You can find us on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via email. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily email here.

    Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.

    Victor Ambros’s laboratory’s research has been funded (since 1985) and is currently funded by the US National Institutes of Heath. Justin Stebbing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Victor Ambros on the team effort behind his Nobel-prize winning discovery of microRNA – podcast – https://theconversation.com/victor-ambros-on-the-team-effort-behind-his-nobel-prize-winning-discovery-of-microrna-podcast-241407

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Video: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell Daily Press Briefing – October 16th, 2024

    Source: United States of America – Federal Government Departments (video statements)

    FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell hosts a press briefing to provide an update on the ongoing federal and local response and recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

    *Disclaimer: Audio does drop out at some moments*

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llQAQgba3S0

    MIL OSI Video –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Development Asia: Enhancing Statistical Capabilities for Climate Action

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    Improving statistical capacity in various areas of climate change relies on collaboration among governments, international development and research organizations, academia, and the private sector to foster innovation and the exchange of knowledge.

    By pooling resources and expertise, new capacity building initiatives can drive the development of best practices in the compilation of climate change data and statistics, ensuring national statistics offices have the latest and most powerful statistical tools and methodologies at their disposal. Through these collaborative efforts, national statistics offices will be better positioned to contribute effectively to global climate action, bolstering efforts to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

    ADB’s survey on the compilation of climate change statistics in Asia and the Pacific suggests that such collaboration is already underway among national statistics offices in member economies. Eighteen national statistics offices reported collaborating with other government agencies, sectors, or international organizations to address data gaps in statistics related to climate change. Other actions commonly taken by national statistics offices included use of administrative and big data and improvements to data infrastructure.

    Figure 4. Measures Taken by National Statistics Offices to Address Data Gaps on Climate Change

    NSO = national statistics office.
    Source: Asian Development Bank analysis using data from the bank’s 2024 Climate Change Data Granularity and Statistical Capacity Building Survey.

    Support provided by more advanced national statistics offices to their peers with fewer resources can also help build capacity and promote the exchange of best practices, ultimately contributing to the development of robust climate change statistics programs across Asia and the Pacific.

    The survey showed that six of the 29 national statistics offices respondents in Asia and the Pacific indicated that they had provided support related to climate change statistics to other economies, either directly (three of six) or through associated organizations (four of six). Feedback from the six economies that provided support states that the most common types of assistance were for capacity building and project proposals. Other types of support included short-term assistance, provision of experts, and support on acquisition of technological and/or digital infrastructure and equipment.

    MIL OSI Economics –